Your Excellency Minister for Commonwealth, your excellencies ministers here present, senior members of government, traditional leaders, members of the diplomatic corps, esteemed members of the private sector, ladies and gentlemen – a very warm welcome to the Queen’s 91st Birthday Party. My thanks to the children of the Arbre a Music music school whose singing and playing we have just heard and will hear more of this evening. I also wish to acknowledge the staff of the British High Commission who have worked so hard in difficult circumstances to organize this evening’s event.

Yes Her Majesty the Queen is now 91 years old and is looking forward in particular to the next Commonwealth Summit which will be in London next year on 16 April.
You may not know that Her Majesty is now the longest reigning monarch in British History. The Queen has received some extraordinary gifts from around the world including, in 1972 a seven-year-old bull elephant called Jumbo presented by, yes you have guessed it, the then President of Cameroon, to mark her Silver Wedding Anniversary.

Vous avez de la chance, ce soir, parce que notre Premier ministre, Theresa May, a annoncé une élection générale au Royaume-Uni pour le 8 juin et en vertu de notre loi electorale britannique, car il ne reste que moins de 6 semaines, je ne suis pas autorisé à commenter sur la politique du gouvernement britannique ou prononcer sur ce que le Royaume-Uni va faire, ou pas, au cours de l’année prochaine. Ca c’est pour notre nouveau gouvernement, quel qu’il soit, de décider après l’élection.

So – I can see you smiling – there are two consequences for my speech this evening:

• It will be short
• You will be spared any self-righteous descriptions of policy, or how much money the United Kingdom is spending on humanitarian support, or in helping Cameroon and other countries in the region fight terrorism, to stand up for human rights, to offer scholarships to help Cameroonians and others to study both in Cameroon and in the United Kingdom

I can however suggest you read the helpful booklet that has been produced with the help of our sponsors that describes all of this and more. Please take a copy on leaving this evening.

Alors, qu’est-ce que cela me laisse à dire ? Je voudrais foculiser sur l’avenir du Cameroun. Je suis tout à fait d’accord avec le Premier minister de Cameroon lorsqu’il a annoncé à Londres lors de la dernière mission commerciale Anglo – Camerounaise, que la prospérité du Cameroun dépend en grande partie, du secteur privé. Ce soir, notre sponsor Platinum est Diageo, connu de beaucoup d’entre vous en tant que brasseurs de ‘Guinness’. Nos remerciements à Diageo, pour l’excellente selection de whisky écossais et de la bière servis ce soir.
Le jardin est éclairé ce soir grâce à l’électricité fournie par Eneo dont l’actionnaire majoritaire est le groupe d’investissement britannique Actis.

And I have a special announcement regarding English wine, yes really it does exist and it is here tonight. The wine is a fresh, sparkling wine from the Denbies vineyard in Surrey which is available for tasting. The wine tasting has been provided by the British Water company Biwater who are in the final stages of agreeing the construction of new water supplies in 13 towns around Cameroon. I could make a terrible joke about ‘water to wine’ but it is probably better to pass on this.

And in case you would like to connect your mobile phone to the internet you can do so thanks to Vodaphone who are providing a free 4G wifi zone in the garden for all guests this evening. Vodaphone arrived in Cameroon last year and we wish them well as one of the world’s most advanced telecommunications companies.

Nous sommes également reconnaissants aux autres entreprises britanniques qui ont parrainé cette soiree:
Joule Afrique (les barrages hydroélectrique et energie solaire); De La Rue qui fournit déjà des passeports camerounais et des timbres fiscaux pour les vins et autres boissons, New Age qui a deja investis plusieurs milliards de livres dans le développement de forages de gaz natural et qui souhaite construire une usine de gaz naturel liquide au Cameroun,   Aggreko qui fournit des solutions de production d’électricité et Standard Chartered Bank qui joue un rôle essentiel dans le financement d’un large éventail de projets et d’entreprises au Cameroun.

I underline the strength of British engagement in the private sector in Cameroon because the future strength of the economy of Cameroon depends on a successful private sector. Profit and taxes are not dirty words. They are essential for creating jobs, generating wealth, providing hope and inspiration for milllions of young people. That is why I am pleased this evening to focus on the private sector and to thank the Chief Executives present this evening for their support, and to wish them, and Cameroon a very successful coming year. Finally I look forward to the bilateral relationship between Cameroon and the United Kingdom going from strength to strength in the coming year. We are already partners – we look to redoubling our efforts to make the partnership even more productive in the coming months.

But we must not forget whose birthday party this is. I ask you now to raise your glasses to toast – the Queen.

I have just chaired another meeting of COBR, where we again discussed the callous and cowardly terrorist attack in Manchester last night, and the operational response from the security service, the police and other emergency services.

It remains the case that, other than the terrorist himself, 22 people were killed in the attack. Fifty-nine people remain injured, and many of them have life-threatening conditions.

As Greater Manchester Police confirmed earlier today, the perpetrator was Salman Ramadan Abedi, a 22-year-old who was born and brought up in Britain.

And as the emergency services have confirmed throughout the day, his victims were innocent children, young people and their families.

Our thoughts and prayers are with them all.

I want to reiterate what I said this morning about the professionalism of the emergency services and the bravery of the people of Manchester. Through their actions, they proved that cowardice will always be defeated by bravery, that evil can be overcome by good, and that our values – the liberal, pluralistic values of Britain – will always prevail over the hateful ideology of the terrorists.

In my statement earlier today, I said that the police and security services needed to investigate whether or not Abedi was acting alone. Those investigations continue. But the work undertaken throughout the day has revealed that it is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack.

This morning, I said that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) – the independent organisation responsible for setting the threat level on the basis of the intelligence available – was keeping the threat level under constant review.

It has now concluded, on the basis of today’s investigations, that the threat level should be increased, for the time being, from severe to critical. This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that a further attack may be imminent.

The change in the threat level means that there will be additional resources and support made available to the police as they work to keep us all safe.

As a result of the JTAC’s decision, the police have asked for authorisation from the Secretary of State for Defence to deploy a number of armed military personnel in support of their armed officers. This request is part of a well-established plan, known as Operation Temperer, in which both the armed forces and the police officers involved are well-trained and well-prepared to work in this kind of environment. The Secretary of State for Defence has approved this request, and Operation Temperer is now in force.

This means that armed police officers responsible for duties such as guarding key sites will be replaced by members of the armed forces, which will allow the police to significantly increase the number of armed officers on patrol in key locations. You might also see military personnel deployed at certain events, such as concerts and sports matches, helping the police to keep the public safe. In all circumstances, members of the armed forces who are deployed in this way will be under the command of police officers.

Precisely how the military and armed police officers will be deployed is an operational decision for police commanders and Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley of the Metropolitan Police will be making a statement giving further details at New Scotland Yard later this evening.

In the coming days and weeks, there will of course be many events hosted up and down the country. The police will work with the organisers and hosts of these events, to come to a judgement about how they can go ahead while making sure the people who attend them are safe and secure.

I do not want the public to feel unduly alarmed. We have faced a serious terrorist threat in our country for many years. And the operational response I have just outlined is a proportionate and sensible response to the threat that our security experts judge we face. I ask everybody to be vigilant, and to cooperate with and support the police as they go about their important work.

I want to end by repeating the important message I gave in my statement earlier today. We will take every measure available to us and provide every additional resource we can to the police and the security services as they work to protect the public.

And while we mourn the victims of last night’s appalling attack, we stand defiant. The spirit of Manchester – and the spirit of Britain – is far mightier than the sick plots of depraved terrorists. That is why the terrorists will never win, and we will prevail.

How to apply for compensation if you were a victim of the terrorist attack in Manchester on 22 May 2017