Category Archives: Foreign policy

‘Alone you are weak’: top German politician calls for closer links between UK and EU

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Martin Schulz, former leader of Germany’s ruling SPD, says the Brexit divide is harming efforts to solve international crises

A leading figure in Germany’s ruling Social Democratic party (SPD) has called for far closer links between the UK and the European Union, amid rising concerns the Brexit divide is harming efforts to solve international crises, including mass migration.

Martin Schulz, a former SPD leader and candidate to be chancellor of Germany, said it was vital that regular meetings, known in EU jargon as “structured dialogue”, be set up to bind the UK closer to the EU – and Germany – once again.

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Sunak says retaining Parthenon marbles is matter of law as he denies ‘hissy fit’

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PM reaffirms stance after George Osborne suggests snub to Greek counterpart was result of ‘petulance’

Rishi Sunak has denied having a “hissy fit” over the Parthenon marbles row and has said they cannot be returned to Greece “as a matter of law”.

The prime minister this week accused his Greek counterpart of using a trip to London to “grandstand” over the issue of the ancient Greek sculptures.

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Exit from Edinburgh zoo may signal end to era of China’s panda diplomacy

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Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears

As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.

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Younger Britons are more pro-EU but ‘fixing’ Brexit not their priority

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Ursula von der Leyen hopes young people can drive a rapprochement but polls show they have other things on their minds

“We goofed it up, you have to fix it,” the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday in a message to the younger generation about Brexit.

Fixing it would be “the direction of travel” with regard to the UK rejoining the EU, she told an audience in Brussels. But as the fourth anniversary of Brexit approaches, is it likely that Britain’s millennials and generation Z will demand a rapprochement?

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Sunak rejects von der Leyen’s comments that UK could rejoin EU

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European Commission president said Brexit could be fixed because leaders had ‘goofed it up’

Rishi Sunak has rejected the suggestion that Brexit could be in peril after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, claimed that the UK could be on a path to rejoining the European Union.

At an event in Brussels on Tuesday night, von der Leyen admitted that European leaders had “goofed up” over the departure of Britain from the bloc and suggested the younger generation could “fix” it.

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Sunak accuses Greek PM of ‘grandstanding’ over Parthenon marbles

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Prime minister escalates row with Athens counterpart in first public comments after cancelling their meeting

Rishi Sunak has intensified his diplomatic spat with his Greek counterpart, accusing Kyriakos Mitsotakis of using his recent trip to London to “grandstand” over the issue of the Parthenon sculptures.

The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday he had cancelled a planned meeting with Mitsotakis in London on Tuesday because the Greek prime minister had reneged on a promise not to use the trip as an opportunity to advocate for the sculptures’ return.

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Parthenon marbles row raises fresh fears over fraught UK-EU relations

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War of words between Athens and London escalates after Rishi Sunak’s snub to Greek prime minister

Rishi Sunak’s snub of his Greek counterpart over the Parthenon marbles raised fresh questions about Britain’s fraught relations with its European neighbours as a war of words between Athens and London escalated on Tuesday.

A meeting on Tuesday between Sunak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis was cancelled because the Greek prime minister reneged on assurances that he would not use a UK visit as a “public platform” to lobby for the return of the marbles to Athens, Downing Street said. The Greek side has denied any such assurances were given.

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Greek leader declines meeting with UK deputy PM after Rishi Sunak’s snub

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis ‘deeply disappointed’ after Sunak talks cancelled amid Parthenon sculptures row

The Greek prime minister has declined a meeting with the UK deputy prime minster, Oliver Dowden, after it was offered in place of talks with Rishi Sunak, amid an escalating row over repatriation of the Parthenon sculptures.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s prime minister, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the abrupt cancellation of a meeting on Monday with Sunak in London, at which he had planned to raise the issue of the sculptures.

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UK’s flagship post-Brexit trade deal worth even less than previously thought, OBR says

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Office for Budget Responsibility says UK entry into the Indo-Pacific agreement will add just 0.04% to GDP in the long run

The UK’s flagship trans-Pacific trade deal, which was presented as a cornerstone of post-Brexit “global Britain”, will deliver even less benefit to the economy than the tiny uplift that was previously predicted, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

In a report accompanying last week’s autumn statement, the OBR said the UK’s entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would add just 0.04% to GDP in the “long run”, which it defines as after 15 years of membership.

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UK white paper raises concerns over China’s growing foreign aid role

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Government paper says Britain must act robustly if interests challenged by the Chinese development model

China’s growing role in international development marks a systemic global shift that will require robust challenge by Britain if its interests are threatened, a UK government white paper on aid has warned.

With David Cameron starting as foreign secretary and under scrutiny for his previous business links with China, the document does not hold back in challenging the Chinese development model or its growing influence.

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Starmer facing more frontbench resignations if Gaza policy does not change

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Exclusive: Labour leader is target of growing anger in party over how he has handled vote on Israel-Hamas war

Keir Starmer faces more resignations from Labour’s frontbench if he does not shift his policy on Gaza, amid growing anger in the party over how he has handled the vote on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Labour leader suffered the biggest rebellion of his tenure on Wednesday night as 10 frontbenchers resigned or were sacked from his team after voting for a Scottish National party motion that called for a ceasefire.

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UK government to present full law to set aside supreme court Rwanda decision

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Decision to table primary legislation in parliament puts in doubt Rishi Sunak’s aim for flights to begin leaving for Rwanda by spring

Rishi Sunak’s government will present a full law to parliament to set aside the supreme court’s ban on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, setting up a probable battle with MPs and peers and putting in doubt the aim for flights to begin leaving by spring.

The law could be published within a fortnight, after next week’s autumn statement, and it will be primary legislation, meaning it will have to pass through all the normal stages of the Commons and Lords, Downing Street has said.

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David Cameron in Ukraine on first mission as UK foreign secretary

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Zelenskiy hails surprise visit after Cameron pledges to continue UK military support

David Cameron has travelled to Kyiv for his first trip as UK foreign secretary in an unannounced visit just days after his surprise appointment, but did not make any significant announcement about fresh military aid.

As he met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Thursday, Cameron pledged that long-term British support for Ukraine would continue.

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Sunak pins hopes on a new Rwanda asylum pact after supreme court defeat

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Whitehall sources say it could take more than a year for any treaty to be passed, with next election looming

Rishi Sunak is attempting to finalise a new pact with Rwanda after a central plank of the British government’s immigration plans was ripped up by the supreme court.

A treaty, which would have to be ratified by the UK parliament, was being drawn up with the government in Kigali, the prime minister said.

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Concerns as China welcomes David Cameron’s return as foreign secretary

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Critics raise concerns that PM during ‘golden era’ of UK-China relations has maintained ties with Beijing

Chinese state media have welcomed the appointment of the former prime minister David Cameron as the UK’s foreign secretary, as opponents of Beijing raised concerns about the return of a figure closely associated with the “golden era” of UK-China relations.

In an editorial published on Tuesday, the Chinese state tabloid the Global Times said Cameron “could potentially play a constructive role, both in mending the UK’s relations with China and in rebuilding and advancing the UK’s post-Brexit diplomatic landscape”.

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Brexit to pints with Xi: why David Cameron is a controversial foreign secretary

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As former UK PM makes a return to cabinet, we look at his somewhat chequered record on global stage

David Cameron has made a shock return to the UK government as foreign secretary.

A profile on the government’s website credits him with developing “a foreign policy that responded to the new challenges of the Arab spring and also evolving challenges from various state and non-state actors”.

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Archbishop of Canterbury makes ‘moral cry’ for Israel-Hamas ceasefire

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Justin Welby’s call came as British Palestinians with relatives in Gaza demanded a meeting with the prime minister

The archbishop of Canterbury has called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, saying the scale of civilian deaths and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza could not be “morally justified”.

“The killing must stop,” Justin Welby said, adding that the call for a ceasefire was a “moral cry”.

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China tells UK to stop using trade to improve Taiwan ties

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UK and Taiwan sign trade agreement they hailed as a first in fostering bilateral trade between Taiwan and Europe

China’s government has accused the UK of using trade cooperation “as an excuse” to enhance its ties with Taiwan, after the announcement of a bilateral trade talks agreement.

On Wednesday Taiwan’s representative to the UK, Kelly Hsieh, and his British counterpart based in Taipei, John Dennis, signed an enhanced trade partnership (ETP). The agreement paves the way for future talks on green energy, digital trade and investment, among other trade-based issues. The UK is Taiwan’s third-biggest trading partner in Europe and 21st largest overall.

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Israel cannot reoccupy Gaza at end of conflict, says Antony Blinken

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US secretary of state echoes White House line, while UK favours rule by ‘peace-loving Palestinian leadership’

Israel must not reoccupy Gaza, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said, adding however that Israel might control the territory for a transition period.

The comments, made at the end of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan, echoed White House remarks on Tuesday suggesting opposition to a long-term occupation of Gaza.

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Senior lawyers criticise handling of case of Sikh activist held in India

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Peers express fears that Jagtar Singh Johal will not receive ‘due process’ in India amid torture claims

Assurances by a UK minister that a British man imprisoned in India will receive a fair trial fly in the face of evidence that he has been tortured and arbitrarily detained, three lawyers who held senior public roles have warned.

To coincide with the sixth anniversary of Jagtar Singh Johal’s detention, Ken MacDonald KC, Elish Angiolini KC and Jim Wallace KC have written to the UK Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad asking him to retract his recent comments saying that the British citizen would receive “due process” in India.

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