Israel-Hamas war: Team Sunak downplaying what can be achieved from PM’s visit to Israel | Beth Rigby
In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas terror attack on Israel, its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the US and UK as the “two countries in the frontline of support”.
And it is in that spirit Rishi Sunak will on Thursday follow President Biden in a diplomatic dash to the region.
This visit is intended as a show of solidarity with Israel.
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Mr Sunak will also use it to try to build on the work of the US in pushing for humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, prevent the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war into a broader regional conflict, and show support for British nationals in Gaza, while raising the cases of the nine missing Britons.
“The PM’s main message will be to urge calmness and cool heads,” says one government figure.
“No one, especially not Israel, wants this to escalate into regional conflict. We have good diplomatic relations in the region and we think we can help.”
But, at such a febrile and tense time in this war, Mr Sunak’s visit comes with obvious risk.
You only have to look at how President Biden’s carefully choreographed visit unravelled mid-flight following the devastating blast at al Ahli hospital in Gaza City, which killed hundreds of people and prompted Arab leaders to cancel a previously scheduled summit with the US leader.
After “unfortunate timing” for President Biden, the PM’s team are keen to downplay expectations of what, if anything, he can achieve in the coming couple of days.
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What happened at the Gaza hospital?
His team are keeping under wraps what other countries he might visit beyond Israel, with one eye on security concerns and the other on what happened to carefully laid US plans in light of the bombing.
To that end, government figures are downplaying expectations, cautioning that they don’t expect a “rabbit out of a hat” or agreement on some of the very live issues around this war, not least the opening of the Rafah crossing to let Palestinian civilians flee Gaza, despite allied optimism earlier this week that this humanitarian corridor would be opened.
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At such a pivotal and unpredictable time in this war, with so much uncertainty about how the coming days will unfold, what the prime minister hopes to do – alongside allies President Biden and German Chancellor Scholz who also visited Israel this week – is demonstrate public solidarity with Israel, while working furiously for de-escalation behind closed doors.
As the prime minister himself said “too many lives have been lost following Hamas’s horrific act of terror”, while the al Ahli hospital attack should be a “watershed moment” for leaders in the region and around the world to contain and limit this war.
But Mr Sunak only has to look to the global leader in chief President Biden, to see how delicate diplomatic missions like this carry real risk; and as much as Number 10 will try to lower expectations of what can be achieved, Mr Sunak will want to come out of his visit with some concrete progress around his aims.
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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands
Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.
The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.
Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.
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PM ‘pays for his season ticket’
“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.
“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”
Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.
She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.
“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”
She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.
“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.
“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”
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She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.
“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.
“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”
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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.
The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.
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The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.
Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.
Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.
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