It’s a gaffe a day with David Lammy – but now his latest intervention has ruffled more feathers than usual. On Monday, the Foreign Secretary was firm in his view that, after Israel’s recent suspension of food, fuel and medical deliveries to Gaza, ‘this is a breach of international law’. Leaving no room for error, as pointed out by the Times, Lammy repeated this assertion for the second time in response to Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons. However it seems that this view is not shared by either the Foreign Office or Downing Street. Awkward…
Indeed the Labour lot appear rather keen to row back on the Cabinet Secretary’s remarks. The Foreign Office has said today: ‘The Foreign Secretary’s position remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are at a clear risk of breaching international law.’ Meanwhile Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson has reiterated that the government remains concerned that Israel’s actions put the country ‘at clear risk’ of law-breaking. No. 10 adds:
We continue to call on the government of Israel to abide by its international obligations when it comes to humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza. In relation to the news overnight [of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza], we do not want to see a return to righting, and the reported civilian casualties resulting from these strikes are appalling. More bloodshed is in no one’s interest, but our priority is urging all parties to return urgently to dialogue to ensure the ceasefire agreement is implemented in full and that the remaining hostages are released.
But saying that there is a risk of breaching international law is quite different from claiming those rules have already been broken. In a rather unusual move, both the Foreign Office and Downing Street appear to be staging a remarkable volte face on the claims Lammy made just yesterday – and it is rather bizarre, to say the least, to see the Foreign Office contradict the Foreign Secretary. Will Lammy now further clarify his comments too? Watch this space…
Comments