Category Archives: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Soft power sell-off: anger as British Council announces sale of historic Madrid building

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Backlash grows among European staff against radical cuts to pay off Covid-era debt, with some accusing council of ‘colonial attitude’

The historic Palacete building at 31 Paseo del General Martínez Campos in Madrid’s upmarket Chamberí district has been home to the British Council in Spain for about 70 years.

About 5,000 students each year pass through its 35 classrooms, learning English, attending exams, and forging cultural ties with the UK. Over the years that is hundreds of thousands of Madrileños (people from Madrid), while it also serves as a centre for the expat community.

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British Council staff in Italy to strike over proposed 80% workforce cut

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Soft power institution faces funding crisis linked to Covid-era government loan due to be repaid by September

Staff at the British Council in Italy will go on strike over deep cuts that would slash about 80% of its workforce due to a funding crisis facing the organisation.

Out of 130 of its teaching staff across Rome, Milan and Naples, 108 are being targeted as teaching activities in Italy face the axe. The move would end 80 years of British Council English language teaching in Italy as part of the organisation’s global mission to promote British culture and education across the world, sources said.

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Top Foreign Office official ‘felt pressure’ for ‘rapid outcome’ on Mandelson vetting

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Ian Collard tells MPs he had not seen UKSV assessment summary before briefing Olly Robbins on clearance

A top Foreign Office security official who played a key role in granting Peter Mandelson’s vetting clearance “felt pressure to deliver a rapid outcome” because of contacts from Downing Street, MPs have been told.

In testimony relayed to parliament via the Foreign Office (FCDO), Ian Collard said he had not seen the assessment summary produced by the vetting agency when he gave an oral briefing to Olly Robbins, the department’s former permanent secretary. Instead, Collard had received an oral briefing from a member of the FCDO’s personnel security team.

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Key figure in Mandelson vetting scandal will not give evidence before MPs

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Chief property and security officer Ian Collard set to submit written answers to foreign affairs committee questions

A key figure in the row over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to Washington will not appear before a parliamentary committee of MPs to give evidence.

Emily Thornberry had requested that Ian Collard speak to the foreign affairs committee (FAC) on Tuesday, but confirmed on Saturday that he would submit written answers instead.

Whether he felt under pressure to deliver Mandelson’s clearance, after Robbins said there was an “atmosphere of pressure” and “constant chasing” from Downing Street.

Whether he had seen the cover form for Mandelson’s vetting by UK Security Vetting (UKSV), the agency responsible for checks on candidates for sensitive posts, in which it had ticked two red boxes – meaning they had “high concern” and recommended “clearance denied or withdrawn”.

If he was asked by anyone in the Foreign Office, Downing Street or the Cabinet Office for advice about whether Mandelson required vetting for the post given that he was a member of the House of Lords.

If he advised on how Mandelson should be treated during the period between his appointment being announced and his clearance coming through.

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Olly Robbins’ account of Mandelson vetting piles pressure on Keir Starmer

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Sacked civil servant tells select committee of ‘pressure’ to give clearance and ‘dismissive’ attitude to vetting

The civil servant sacked by Keir Starmer has given a devastating account of his government, saying Downing Street put huge pressure on the civil service to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Washington ambassador despite the concerns of vetting officials.

Olly Robbins, the former top official at the Foreign Office, said No 10 took a “dismissive” attitude to vetting, and Mandelson was given access to the Foreign Office building and to “higher-classification briefings” before he was granted security clearance.

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Cabinet Office suggested Mandelson did not need security vetting, says Robbins as he describes ‘pressure’ from No 10 – UK politics live

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Olly Robbins was forced out as Foreign Office permanent secretary over the Peter Mandelson security vetting revelations in the Guardian

The hearing has started.

Emily Thornberry, the chair, started by saying that Robbins did not tell the whole truth about this process when he gave evidence to it in November.

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How safe is Starmer’s premiership after his Mandelson vetting statement to MPs?

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Despite his explanation and the need for political stability, the PM is still unpopular – and Olly Robbins has yet to give his side of the story

Labour MPs frustrated with the lack of a clear mission from Keir Starmer’s No 10 have often urged the prime minister to be more forceful in his arguments, to prosecute his values, to find an enemy to define himself against.

The prime minister has found one: Olly Robbins. Starmer prosecuted his case against the former Foreign Office chief on Monday with the vigour of his former life at the bar.

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Starmer would have blocked Mandelson role over vetting failure, says Lammy

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Deputy prime minister says it is ‘inexplicable’ top civil servant kept Downing Street in dark

Keir Starmer would have blocked Peter Mandelson from serving as the UK’s ambassador to Washington had he known he failed security vetting, David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore up the prime minister amid damaging fallout from the row.

In his first public comments on the vetting affair, Lammy said it was “inexplicable” that Oliver Robbins, the former top civil servant who was forced out of the Foreign Office this week, had opted to leave Downing Street in the dark over the outcome.

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Families condemn UK ‘impotence’ over UAE ‘social media misuse’ detentions

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Ministers accused of being too fearful of offending Emirates to help Britons detained for sharing images of war

The families of UK citizens held in the United Arab Emirates over allegations that they shared images of the conflict with Iran have voiced frustration at the British government’s failure to help.

Several British citizens are among more than 100 foreign nationals who have been detained under draconian Emirate rules that outlaw publishing or sharing material that could “disturb public security”.

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Some of the world’s poorest countries to lose UK aid due to 56% budget cut

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UK’s bilateral aid to African countries, which funds areas such as schools and clinics, to be cut by almost £900m by 2028-29

Some of the world’s poorest countries will lose out on UK aid that funds programmes such as schools and clinics, due to budget cuts set out by the foreign secretary.

The UK’s bilateral aid to African countries will be reduced by almost £900m by 2028-29 – a 56% cut – as part of more than £6bn in cuts which are funding an increase in defence spending.

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UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register

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Parliamentary group urges government to clamp down on overseas territories before flagship anti-corruption summit

The UK government has been accused of caving-in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands by allowing it to limit access to a register of company share ownership to only those deemed to have a legitimate interest.

The restriction, to be discussed at talks starting on Tuesday between Foreign Office ministers and leaders of the British overseas territories (BOTs) in London, is in defiance of legislation passed by the UK government as long ago as 2008 that would make the register available to all.

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French taxi driver cleared of stealing from David Lammy after fare dispute

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Nassim Mimun, who left with Lammy’s and his wife’s bags after ‘tone escalated’, acquitted owing to lack of evidence

A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said.

Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April.

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Yvette Cooper suggests international community on brink of Gaza peace deal

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Exclusive: Foreign secretary says world has ‘reached moment’ it wants to end war after Donald Trump signals plan within reach

The international community is on the brink of securing a peace deal for Gaza that could finally bring an end to two years of conflict and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed thousands of lives, Yvette Cooper has suggested.

The new foreign secretary, who has just returned from a UN summit, said that they had “reached a moment where the world wants to end this war” after US president Donald Trump indicated a peace deal was within reach.

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Family of British couple held in Iran say their health is deteriorating in prison

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Son of Lindsay Foreman expresses ‘real concerns’ after mother put on drip and stepfather, Craig, ‘constantly ill’

The family of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, a British couple detained in Iran on espionage charges, have said their health is deteriorating in prison.

The pair, both 52 and who previously split their time between Spain and England, were seized in Kerman, central Iran, and taken into custody in January while on an around-the-world motorcycle tour.

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Family of UK aid volunteer reportedly killed in Ukraine ‘disappointed’ by Foreign Office

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Relatives of Annie Lewis Marffy in ‘red-tape limbo’ over recovery of her body and issuing of death certificate

The family of a British aid volunteer reportedly killed in a drone strike in Ukraine said they were very disappointed by the reaction from the Foreign Office.

Annie Lewis Marffy, 69, travelled from her home in Silverton, near Exeter in Devon in late May to deliver supplies packed into a green Toyota Rav4 in a mission arranged by the non-profit organisation Aid Ukraine UK. She was to take the vehicle in convoy with a British volunteer to Kramatorsk in the contested Donbas region.

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UK government faces legal action over not evacuating critically ill children from Gaza

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Exclusive: Law firm representing three children says failure to facilitate medical evacuations is stark contrast to other conflicts

The UK government is facing a legal challenge over its decision not to medically evacuate critically ill children from Gaza in the way they have done for young people caught up in other conflicts.

The legal action, being taken against the Foreign Office and Home Office on behalf of three critically ill children in Gaza, argues that UK ministers have failed to take into account the lack of treatment options for children in the territory before denying medical evacuations.

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UK’s anti-corruption champion to visit offshore haven on fact-finding mission

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Foreign Office sending Margaret Hodge to British Virgin Islands to investigate slow progress against financial crime

The Foreign Office will dispatch the UK’s anti-corruption champion, Margaret Hodge, to the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) to find out why the offshore haven is dragging its feet on proposals designed to fight financial crime.

Several of the UK’s semi-autonomous British overseas territories missed last month’s deadline to implement new registers of corporate ownership, a measure targeting the secrecy regimes campaigners say benefit criminals and kleptocrats.

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British nationals who want to leave Israel to be offered flights to UK, says David Lammy

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Foreign secretary says government will provide charter flights from Tel Aviv when airspace reopens

British nationals who want to leave Israel will be offered charter flights from Tel Aviv as soon as airspace reopens, the government has said.

With the conflict with Iran continuing, Whitehall officials have been working to organise escape routes for the thousands of British and dual nationals in Israel.

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£5bn UK overseas aid cuts cannot be challenged in court, say government lawyers

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Claim comes in legal exchange with advocacy group ahead of judicial review of decision to slash support to 0.3% of gross national income

Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI).

The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign. It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review.

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Fears voiced as Britons in Israel advised to stay while embassy families depart

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UK Foreign Office causes confusion as it urges British nationals to register their presence but not to leave

The UK government removed families of Foreign Office officials from Israel due to security concerns but is continuing to advise British nationals to remain and to follow local guidance – prompting questions over whether the approaches are consistent.

While the dependants of diplomatic staff have left as a “precautionary measure”, with staff remaining at the embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem, the broader travel advice has not changed.

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