Kim Howells

Kim Howells   (diplomat, politician)
Born	27 November 1946
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs In office 11 May 2005 - 6 October 2008  Minister of State for Education In office 10 September 2004 - 11 May 2005 Succeeded by Andrew Adonis  Minister of State for Transport In office 13 June 2003 - 10 September 2004  Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Culture,  Media and Sport In office 11 June 2001 - 13 June 2003

Kim Howells was the former Middle East junior Foreign Minister in Tony Blair's cabinet and a former chair of the Labour Friends of Israel. Howells is also a former Culture Secretary (2003).

On the Middle East Howells is one of the most quoted politicians in the UK government.

Defending Israel

According to the Guardian, he "shocked UK diplomats" when he told the Jerusalem Post that 'rocket and artillery attacks on the Gaza Strip were a "measured" and "proportionate" response to Palestinian mortar attacks on Israel'. This at a time when 'British diplomats were lodging complaints over dozens of attacks on Gaza that destroyed schools and homes and the use of sonic booms to intimidate Palestinian civilians'.

Career

• July 2007: Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
• 2003 - June 2007: Junior Foreign Office Minister, looking after Africa, Asia and the UN. (replaced by Mark Malloch Brown).
• 2005 - Present: Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Present: Minister for the Middle East

Affiliations

• Labour Friends of Israel – former chairman

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References

• Stuart Jeffries, 'I am not a fuddy duddy', The Guardian, 17 January 2003.
• Chris McGreal, Foreign Office 'unrelentingly pro-Palestinian' says Israel, The Guardian, 26 November 2005.