Does Spain Want Gibraltar Back?

And should we let them have it?

Photo by Michal Mrozek on Unsplash

This is a bit of meandering post, but I do ask a question eventually.

Recently our foreign secretary, David Lammy, struck a deal with the Spanish Government (or the EU) making it easier for Spanish People to enter Gibraltar. This has caused some people here in the UK to accuse Mr. Lammy of opening the door to Gibraltar being handed back to Spain.

I am not sure things have gone this far, but I wonder if David Lammy was put under some pressure by the Spanish government.

The reason I say this is because Mr. Lammy has proved to be a bit vulnerable if put under some mild pressure.

He recently took part in a TV quiz show and mixed-up Marie Curie, the first women to be awarded a Nobel prize, with the French queen Marie Antoinette.

He also believed Henry the 8th was succeeded by Henry the 7th. 😂

I am aware that there is an element of pressure answering questions on a TV quiz show. But if he is going to crack under that kind of pressure it doesn’t hold much hope for him holding the ground when negotiating international agreements.

However, this article is about Gibraltar and the people of Gibraltar.

I have a very tenuous connection with this particular peninsular. My older brother spent seven years in the Royal Navy; he joined when he was seventeen. When he came home on leave, he would regale his much younger brother, me, with tales of “Gib” and the apes that lived there.

He also brought a tin of sweets known as Quality Street on every visit home. For many years I thought these sweets came from Gibraltar. I was slightly disillusioned when I discovered he bought them from the local corner shop. 😆

A last tenuous link with the rock; my eldest daughter got married there. I did not attend the wedding. ( No problem just circumstances.)

So now we come to the main reason for writing this post.

When I was perusing the many articles I wrote on Bubblews many years ago, I stumbled upon this written about Gibraltar in 2013. It was a question I asked then, and I wondered if it should still be asked now.

How British are the Gibraltarians?

It would seem the Spanish government is ratcheting up the dispute over the sovereignty of Gibraltar. This is something they do every so often, as they feel Britain should hand back the peninsular to them.

The naval base was once vital to British interests years ago, but I have no idea if this is still the case. The problem it seems is that the people of Gibraltar want to remain British, and that is their right.

However I have a slight problem with their commitment to Britain.

Some years ago one of the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines docked in Gibraltar with some technical problems. The reaction of the population of the “British” people was very odd.

They claimed that it was too risky for the vessel to be in their harbour, and wanted it removed to Britain. It would seem that Gibraltar is part of Great Britain when things are going well, but not when there is a risk of danger. The submarine did leave Gibraltar, and the risk was transferred to the British people in the British Isles, and away from the “British “people of Gibraltar.

Am I being unfair to the people of Gibraltar?

Remember this was written 12 years ago.

Thanks for reading it today.

©Barry Robinson 2025