Dowden: UK position on arms sales to Israel ‘has not changed’
Israel and Hamas are expected to hold a new round of ceasefire negotiations in Cairo today, at a time when Israel is under more pressure than ever before to pause the conflict. An IDF strike on an aid convoy which killed seven aid workers, including three Britons, led to Foreign Secretary David Cameron telling Israel that British support was ‘not unconditional’. This week there have been calls for the UK to suspend arms exports to Israel. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said this morning on Sky News that the UK has ‘one of the toughest arms export systems’, based on legal advice. However, on the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg asked Dowden about reports that the government has received legal advice warning that Israel has broken international law. Dowden said the government would not publish the legal advice, but admitted they had ‘specific concerns’ about Israel’s conduct. He claimed the world was forgetting ‘the horrors Israel faced’, and that Israel was being held to ‘extremely high standards’.
Lammy: ‘It is hugely important that the UK is not complicit’
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy disagreed with Dowden’s argument that the government could not publish the legal advice it received about Israel, pointing out that they had published advice when deciding to take military action agains the Houthis a few weeks ago. Lammy said he had ‘very real concerns’ that Britain’s own obligations under international humanitarian law ‘might have been breached’ as a result of Britain’s weapons being used unlawfully by Israel.
Chris Lockyear: ‘International Humanitarian law is being broken on a daily basis in Gaza’
On Sky News, Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières Lockyear said he had been in the Rafah area, and suggested that humanitarian assistance in Gaza has been ‘wholly inadequate’. He pointed out that over 200 aid workers have been killed. Likud MP Boaz Bismuth then attacked Lockyear, suggesting MSF had not tried to help Israeli hostages, and asked whether Israeli civilians were ‘less important’.
William Wragg honeytrap sting: ‘He made a stupid error and he’s apologised’
This week it was reported that multiple MPs have been targeted in honeytrap stings on WhatsApp and dating apps. Tory MP William Wragg admitted he had given personal phone numbers of other MPs to someone he was speaking to on Grindr. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Oliver Dowden if Wragg should step down as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee after ‘betraying’ backbenchers. Dowden said no, Wragg had admitted what he did was ‘foolish’ and had apologised. Tominey questioned whether it was foolish for MPs to be on dating apps in general, and Dowden said MPs are entitled to have a private life, but agreed they had to hold themselves to a ‘very high standard’.
Lammy on Rayner tax controversy: ‘I don’t think this is a story’
Questions have grown about Angela Rayner’s tax affairs after the Mail on Sunday claimed Rayner’s social media posts were evidence that she had lied about where she lived. Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News, David Lammy suggested the Mail on Sunday’s evidence only showed that the shadow deputy prime minister had a ‘blended family’, and lived in more than one place. Lammy claimed Rayner had always been clear that she’s done nothing wrong, and that she had Labour’s full support.
Nato chief: we are facing a ‘stronger alliance of authoritarian powers’
Lastly, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed with Kuenssberg that we are in a ‘new era of instability’. He said that Nato is a regional alliance, but current conflicts are global, pointing out that Russian is receiving military aid from Iran and China. He argued it was essential that Nato members stepped up their defence programmes, and continued to support Ukraine.
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