Britain will not take part in Donald Trump’s signing ceremony for his Gaza Board of Peace over concerns about the inclusion of Vladimir Putin, Yvette Cooper has confirmed.
According to The Independent, the foreign secretary said the UK will not be involved in today’s ceremony, citing unease about the Russian president “being part of something which is talking about peace.”
Sir Keir Starmer has expressed concerns about the board in recent days, with his spokesman telling reporters that the UK was “still looking at the terms.”
The Kremlin has acknowledged an invitation to the board and is “studying the details” to seek clarity of “all the nuances”, according to spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Cooper told BBC Breakfast, “We won't be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues. And we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine.”
She added, “We're not one of the signatories today, but we will have continuing international discussions, including with our allies, including on how we work with this, and how we work with the peace process for Gaza going forward.”
The “Board of Peace” was originally laid out by Trump as a small group of world leaders who would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, but has since developed into playing a broader role.
Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and suggesting the board could soon mediate various international conflicts.
Some 35 countries had agreed to sign on to the project and 60 nations had been invited to join, a senior US administration official told reporters on Wednesday.
