Category Archives: James Cleverly

UK foreign secretary calls for expansion of UN security council

Posted on by

James Cleverly says global south deserves more powerful voice at top table and review needed into five permanent members’ veto

The global south deserves a more powerful voice at the world’s top table by expanding the UN security council, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.

Cleverly also called for a review of the use of the veto by the council’s five permanent members, adding that the world’s poorest countries feel their voice is not heard even on issues of direct concern to them.

Continue reading...

James Cleverly rejects claim he will stand down at next election

Posted on by

Foreign secretary describes newspaper report of frustration with Tory party rows with as ‘nonsense’

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has described suggestions that he was considering standing down from parliament at the next general election as “nonsense”.

Cleverly declared he was “standing at the next election” after newspaper reports claimed he was considering whether to stand.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak says he is ‘totally, 100% on it’ in battle against inflation – UK politics live

Posted on by

Prime minister says he knows people will be anxious about rate rise but ‘it is going to be OK’

Rishi Sunak has posted a thread on Twitter setting out what the government is doing to help people with the cost of living. It starts here.

He ends by saying “if we can hold our nerve” he is confident the plan will deliver.

Continue reading...

Nato allies back fast-track membership for Ukraine, says Cleverly

Posted on by

UK foreign secretary says Ukraine has ‘evolved quickly’, as Zelenskiy tells summit it can be engine of green growth

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said all Nato allies are backing a plan to give Ukraine a fast track to Nato membership of the kind offered to Sweden and Finland earlier this year.

Speaking on the margins of the two-day Ukraine Recovery conference in London, Cleverly said the UK was “very, very supportive” of Ukraine being able to join Nato without the usual need for it to meet the conditions set out in a Nato membership action plan (Map).

Continue reading...

UK to keep Kremlin assets frozen until Russia pays compensation to Ukraine

Posted on by

Council of Europe has established digital register of damage as first step towards compensation mechanism

Britain is likely to keep Russian state assets immobilised for some time after the war in Ukraine ends, and certainly until Moscow has agreed to pay compensation for the damage it has inflicted, British officials have confirmed.

The Council of Europe summit last week established a digital register of damage for Ukraine as the first step towards an international compensation mechanism for victims of Russian aggression.

Continue reading...

Liz Truss’s plan to visit Taiwan called ‘worst kind of Instagram diplomacy’

Posted on by

Alicia Kearns, foreign affairs select committee chair, launches blistering attack on former prime minister

The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has launched a blistering attack on Liz Truss over the former prime minister’s planned trip to Taiwan, calling it “the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy”.

Alicia Kearns said she thought Truss’s trip planned for next week was little more than a vanity project aimed at keeping her profile high after her brief spell as prime minister last year.

Continue reading...

‘I’m in intense pain’: Vahid Beheshti passes 70 days on UK hunger strike

Posted on by

Camped outside Foreign Office, Beheshti is demanding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards be proscribed

Vahid Beheshti’s hunger strike outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office took a surreal turn on Wednesday – its 70th day – when he attended a royal coronation tea party at Buckingham Palace, arriving by wheelchair and wearing a suit and red tie.

He has lost more than 17kg (37lb), or a quarter of his body weight, and he told the Guardian that “my body and joints are now racked in intense pain”. As he left his tent, draped in the Iranian flag and surrounded by flowers, he clutched an envelope containing a letter for the king. After carefully smartening himself up, he was wheeled to a taxi by his wife, Mattie Heaven, a Conservative councillor.

Continue reading...

Last UK rescue flight from Sudan to take off on Wednesday

Posted on by

Foreign secretary says there will be no further British evacuation flights from wartorn Port Sudan

The final UK rescue flight from Sudan is expected to take off on Wednesday, the government has said.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said British nationals who wanted to leave the country need to make their way to the Coral hotel in Port Sudan by 10am local time (9am BST), adding that there would be no further British evacuation flights from the city.

Continue reading...

Final UK evacuation flight from Sudan expected to leave on Wednesday

Posted on by

James Cleverly urges British nationals still wanting to leave the war-torn nation to make their way to Port Sudan

The final UK evacuation flight is expected to take off from Sudan on Wednesday, the foreign secretary has announced.

James Cleverly urged British nationals still wanting to leave the war-torn nation to make their way to Port Sudan.

Continue reading...

Britons in Sudan have until midday on Saturday to fly out, ministers say

Posted on by

Government announces end to airlifts amid calls for NHS doctors without UK passports to be rescued

British nationals trapped in Sudan have until midday on Saturday local time to get on a flight before they stop, ministers have announced, as a doctors’ union called for NHS medics without UK passports to also be airlifted.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, said on Friday night more than 1,500 people had been flown out, and there had been a “significant decline in British nationals coming forward”, meaning it was time to end the operation.

Continue reading...

UK says nearly 900 evacuated from Sudan amid hopes of further flights

Posted on by

Foreign secretary welcomes ceasefire but cites need for haste as Tory MP presses him over fate of Britons’ Sudanese parents

Britain said it had evacuated nearly 900 people from Sudan and was hoping to continue evacuation flights overnight, although violence flared as the country’s warring factions agreed to extend a ceasefire.

The foreign secretary was under pressure over a refusal to allow Britons trying to flee to take elderly parents with them, amid fears that renewed fighting between the army and paramilitaries could halt the airlift at any time.

Continue reading...

If China invaded Taiwan it would destroy world trade, says James Cleverly

Posted on by

UK foreign secretary warns a war across Taiwan strait and likely destruction of semiconductor industry would have global effects

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would destroy world trade, and distance would offer no protection to the inevitable catastrophic blow to the global economy, the UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, warned in a set piece speech on Britain’s relations with Beijing.

In remarks that differ from French president Emmanuel Macron’s attempts to distance Europe from any potential US involvement in a future conflict over Taiwan, and which firmly support continued if guarded engagement with Beijing, Cleverly said “no country could shield itself from the repercussions of a war in Taiwan”.

Continue reading...

UK to start evacuating British nationals from Sudan

Posted on by

RAF transport planes fly into country, as UK government takes advantage of ceasefire

The British government is taking advantage of a 72-hour ceasefire agreed by the warring factions in Sudan to evacuate UK nationals from the country, following intense criticism that it had missed a window of opportunity to evacuate more than British diplomats and their families on Sunday.

RAF transport planes have been flying into the Wadi Seidna airfield, north of Khartoum, from where UK nationals are due to be flown to Cyprus, which is being used as a staging post by the British military.

Continue reading...

UK expected to stop funding Chinese state-linked Mandarin teaching schools

Posted on by

Secretive visa scheme has been used to fast-track Chinese staff to promote Communist party values at Confucius Institutes

UK government funding for Mandarin teaching at branches of the Chinese state-linked Confucius Institute is to be axed, but they will not be closed, as Rishi Sunak promised last year.

The step is expected to be announced by James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, on Tuesday and comes as research shows that a secretive visa scheme has been used to fast-track Chinese government-vetted staff to come to the UK to promote Chinese Communist party (CCP) values at the institutes.

Continue reading...

Baltic states condemn China envoy’s remarks over sovereignty of ex-Soviet nations

Posted on by

Lu Shaye’s comments raise fresh questions over China’s role in brokering peace in Ukraine

France, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have expressed dismay after China’s ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty not only of Ukraine, but all the former Soviet Republics including the Baltic states.

Lu Shaye’s remarks in a TV interview late on Friday raise fresh questions about the faith the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has placed in China to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

Continue reading...

US and UK troops moving close to Sudan for possible evacuation

Posted on by

MoD engaged in ‘prudent planning’ as several hundred British citizens are estimated to be in country

US and British troops are being moved close to Sudan amid growing speculation they could be involved in some sort of evacuation or rescue of western nationals trapped in the country by the outbreak of fighting a week ago.

Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said on Friday afternoon that the US had deployed military forces “in theatre” – meaning in countries relatively close to Sudan – to give the White House choices as to how to proceed, with 19,000 US citizens estimated as being stuck in the country.

Continue reading...

DeSantis to meet UK foreign secretary with eye on US presidential bid

Posted on by

Florida governor lines up four-nation tour in attempt to boost credentials as credible leader on world stage

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is to meet the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in London at the end of the month as he attempts to burnish his credentials as a credible Republican leader capable of operating on a global stage ahead of a widely expected run for US president.

He is to lead a Florida trade delegation on a four-nation tour taking in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the UK.

Continue reading...

Britain’s top diplomat James Cleverly skips part of Pacific tour to focus on Sudan

Posted on by

Foreign secretary cancelled plans in Samoa and New Zealand due to crisis in Sudan, his office said

The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has skipped planned meetings to New Zealand and Samoa to focus on coordinating the UK’s response to the crisis in Sudan.

Cleverly had been scheduled to join the New Zealand foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, in Samoa on Wednesday for a series of trilateral meetings with the Samoan government, and then travel on with Mahuta to New Zealand.

Continue reading...

UK should not ‘pull the shutters down’ on China, says James Cleverly

Posted on by

Exclusive: British foreign secretary says failing to engage ‘closely and regularly’ with Beijing would be ‘really counterproductive’

Britain should not “pull the shutters down” on China, as it would be counterproductive to the national interest, the foreign secretary has told the Guardian.

In a warning to Conservative hawks, James Cleverly insisted there was not a binary choice to be made between treating China as either a threat or an opportunity, and said the UK’s approach needed to be more nuanced.

Continue reading...

James Cleverly in Japan for G7 as UK tilts towards Pacific post-Brexit

Posted on by

Foreign secretary says ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ is ‘critical to UK’ and releases manga-style cartoons to mark his visit

James Cleverly has arrived in Japan for a G7 foreign ministers’ summit to promote a “free and open” Indo-Pacific, as the UK government steps up its focus on the region after Brexit.

The foreign secretary and his counterparts from countries including the US and France will hold high-level talks on closer security and defence ties in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the Pacific.

Continue reading...