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Tag: David Cameron

  • Data breach at Abu Dhabi finance summit exposes politicians’ details – Tech Digest

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    The breach originated from the registration systems of the Abu Dhabi Finance Forum, an annual event that attracts top-tier political figures, central bankers and billionaire investors.

    The leaked database reportedly contains sensitive information including passport numbers, private contact details, travel itineraries and accommodation arrangements.

    Security experts warn that the exposure of such granular data creates significant personal security risks and makes these individuals prime targets for sophisticated phishing attacks or espionage.

    Lord Cameron is among the most prominent names identified in the cache of files. Other figures identified in the leak include former heads of state from Europe and the Middle East, as well as several high-ranking executives from major Wall Street banks.

    The scale of the exposure suggests a fundamental failure in the summit’s data protection protocols, which were managed by a third-party technology provider.

    The Abu Dhabi government has launched an immediate investigation into the incident. Early forensics suggest the data was exfiltrated several weeks ago and had been circulating on encrypted messaging platforms and dark web forums before being flagged by researchers.

    This incident arrives at a time of heightened sensitivity regarding digital sovereignty in the Gulf region. As Abu Dhabi positions itself as a global hub for finance and AI technology, the vulnerability of its premier diplomatic platforms faces intense scrutiny.

    Cybersecurity analysts suggest this breach may lead to a permanent shift in how personal data is handled for high-level diplomatic travel, with calls for international standards on data privacy for global summits.

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    Chris Price

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  • Char’s Has the Blues: The life and death of Phoenix R&B institution

    Char’s Has the Blues: The life and death of Phoenix R&B institution

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    Newly opened Melrose District hangout Smith’s on 7th is a hip drinkery and looks every bit the part. The interior of the urbane bar and lounge along Seventh Avenue just south of Camelback Road is adorned with clever posters, strategically placed succulents, tufted leather furniture and an Insta-worthy mural…

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    Benjamin Leatherman

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  • Trump will meet with a senior Japanese official after court session in his hush money trial

    Trump will meet with a senior Japanese official after court session in his hush money trial

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    WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while he’s in New York for his criminal hush money trial.

    The presumptive GOP nominee will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been formally announced.

    Aso is just the latest foreign leader to spend time with Trump in recent weeks as U.S. allies prepare for the possibility that he could win back the White House this November.

    “Leaders from around the world know that with President Trump we had a safer, more peaceful world,” said Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement. “Meetings and calls from world leaders reflect the recognition of what we already know here at home. Joe Biden is weak, and when President Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, the world will be more secure and America will be more prosperous.”

    Trump met last week with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower and also met recently with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

    Trump was close with Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022. Aso is vice president of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and served as deputy prime minister and finance minister under Abe.

    Trump has threatened to impose broad new tariffs if he wins a second term.

    Early Tuesday morning, he complained about the U.S. dollar reaching a new high against the Japanese yen, calling it “a total disaster for the United States.”

    “When I was President, I spent a good deal of time telling Japan and China, in particular, you can’t do that,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It sounds good to stupid people, but it is a disaster for our manufacturers and others.”

    The U.S. dollar is trading at above 150 yen recently, up from 130-yen mark a year ago, which has made it more costly for Japan to import goods but has boosted exports.

    President Joe Biden hosted current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House for talks and a state dinner earlier this month. During the visit, the leaders announced plans to upgrade U.S.-Japan military relations, with both sides looking to tighten cooperation amid concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s increasing military assertiveness in the Pacific.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Jill Colvin, Associated Press

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  • The Latest | World leaders urge Israel not to retaliate for the Iranian drone and missile attack

    The Latest | World leaders urge Israel not to retaliate for the Iranian drone and missile attack

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    World leaders are urging Israel not to retaliate after Iran launched an attack involving hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

    British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told the BBC on Monday the U.K. does not support a retaliatory strike, while French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris will try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.”

    The Iranian attack on Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    An Israeli military spokesman said that 99% of the drones and missiles launched by Iran were intercepted.

    Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others.

    An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,700 people, according to local health officials.

    Currently:

    — The shadow war between Iran and Israel has been exposed. What happens next?

    — US works to prevent an escalation across the Mideast as Biden pushes Israel to show restraint.

    — Iran’s attack on Israel raised fears of a wider war, but all sides in the conflict also scored gains.

    — Iran and Israel have a history of enmity. What key recent events led to Iran’s assault on Israel?

    Here is the latest:

    AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONDEMNS IRAN’S ATTACK

    BERLIN -– Austria’s foreign minister has spoken with his Iranian counterpart to condemn Tehran’s attack on Israel and call on Iran to rein in its proxies in the Middle East.

    Alexander Schallenberg said in a statement he told Iran’s Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday that “we cannot afford another front in the Middle East. There would only be losers, in the region and beyond.”

    Schallenberg said he also urged Amirabdollahian to “exercise Iran’s influence on proxies in the region.”

    Austria hosted talks on Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers in 2015.

    Amirabdollahian already spoke on Sunday with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. A spokesperson for Baerbock, Christian Wagner, said Iran’s ambassador to Germany was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin on Monday.

    OIL PRICES FALL AFTER IRAN’S STRIKE ON ISRAEL IS THWARTED

    Oil prices fell on Monday after Iran’s missile and drone strike failed to cause widespread damage in Israel and the U.S. administration made it clear it did not support a wider war with Iran.

    Analysts say the chief risk to oil prices from the Israel-Hamas war is if the conflict escalates and disrupts oil supplies from Iran and Persian Gulf producers through the Strait of Hormuz choke point.

    The stance taken by Iran, which said the matter “can be deemed concluded” with the retaliatory strikes, and the U.S. position reassured oil traders, who sent the price of international benchmark Brent crude 0.7% lower to $89.82 per barrel in Monday morning trading. That is below the levels just above $90 per barrel seen on Friday before the weekend attacks.

    Risks that could send prices higher include any Israeli strike against Iranian oil facilities or tougher enforcement of sanctions against Iran by the U.S. “Any retaliation by Israel … especially one that targets Iran’s oil facilities, will have major implications for energy markets,” said analysts at S&P Global.

    Tougher sanctions enforcement against Iranian oil shipments by the U.S. could raise oil prices but would risk higher inflation and pump prices for U.S. motorists in an election year.

    4 ISRAELI SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN A BLAST ALONG THE BORDER WITH LEBANON

    TEL AVIV — The Israeli military says four soldiers were wounded by an explosion along the northern border with Lebanon.

    The military said that the source of the explosion, which occurred overnight, was still unclear. It left one soldier severely wounded, two moderately wounded, and one with light injuries.

    The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Monday that mines they set up in southern Lebanon near the border detonated after Israeli ground troops encroached on Lebanese territory, incurring casualties.

    The incident comes as tensions in the region soared after an Iranian air assault was thwarted by Israel and its allies. Israel has not said whether it will respond.

    Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, concerns have grown that near-daily clashes along the border between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into a full-scale war.

    GERMAN CHANCELLOR CALLS ON ISRAEL TO CONTRIBUTE TO DE-ESCALATION

    BERLIN -– German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is calling on Israel to “contribute to de-escalation” in the Middle East following Iran’s attack on the country.

    Scholz told reporters in Shanghai on Monday that “Iran must stop this aggression.”

    Asked whether he will attempt to dissuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a military response to Saturday night’s attack, he said there’s widespread agreement that Israel’s success in largely repelling the attack with allies’ help was “really impressive.”

    He added that “this is a success that perhaps also should not be thrown away. Hence also our advice to contribute to de-escalation themselves.”

    Germany is a staunch ally of Israel.

    AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS URGE ISRAEL, IRAN TO AVOID ESCALATION

    KAMPALA, Uganda — Some African governments are urging Israel and Iran to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

    While Iran’s attack on Israel “represents a real and present threat to international peace and security,” Israel should “show utmost restraint” in its response, President William Ruto of Kenya said in a statement posted on social platform X.

    The warring parties “must exercise the utmost restraint and avoid any act that would escalate tensions in a particularly fragile region,” South Africa’s government said in a statement Sunday.

    Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry urged Israel and Iran to “reflect on the universal commitment to peaceful resolution of conflicts.”

    GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY REPORTS 68 DEAD IN LAST 24 HOURS

    CAIRO — The Health Ministry in Gaza on Monday said the bodies of 68 people killed in Israel’s bombardment have been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours. Another 94 were wounded, it said.

    The fresh fatalities brought the death toll in the strip to 33,797 since the war began on Oct. 7, it said. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but said two thirds of the dead are children and women.

    Another 76,456 were wounded in the war, the ministry said.

    The ministry said many casualties remain under the rubble and first responders have been unable to retrieve them amid the relentless bombing.

    Israel launched its war on Hamas after the militant group’s complex attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israeli authorities say 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and roughly 250 people taken hostage in the attack. Israel says it has killed 12,000 militants in its offensive, without providing evidence.

    ISRAELI MILITARY WARNS PALESTINIANS NOT TO RETURN TO NORTHERN GAZA

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military renewed warnings on Monday for Palestinians in Gaza not to return to the embattled territory’s north, a day after five people were killed trying to reach their homes in the war-torn area.

    The military said Palestinians should stay in southern Gaza where they have been told to shelter because the north is a “dangerous combat zone,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on social platform X.

    On Sunday, hundreds of Palestinians sheltering in central Gaza headed north in an attempt to return to their homes. Throngs of people were seen crowding a seaside road.

    Hospital authorities in Gaza said five people were shot by Israeli forces while trying to head north. The Israeli military had no immediate comment and the precise circumstances behind the deaths were not immediately clear.

    The returnees said they were prompted to make the journey north because they were fed up with the difficult conditions they are forced to live under while displaced.

    Northern Gaza was an early target in Israel’s war against Hamas, which it launched in response to the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack. The military is still operating in the north in a bid to stamp out militants that have regrouped.

    Vast parts of northern Gaza have been flattened by Israel’s offensive and much of its population displaced.

    BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY URGES ISRAEL TO AVOID STRIKING BACK AT IRAN

    LONDON — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has urged Israel “to be smart as well as tough” and avoid striking back at Iran in response to its drone and missile barrage.

    Cameron told the BBC that the U.K. does not support a retaliatory strike. The U.K.’s top diplomat said the attack had been a defeat for Iran and echoed President Joe Biden, who urged Israel to “take the win.”

    Cameron said Britain’s message to Israel is: “Now is the time to be smart as well as tough, to think with head as well as heart.”

    He said British fighter jets had played an “important part” in shooting down some of the more than 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones fired at Israel from Iran, but did not provide details.

    MACRON SAYS IRAN’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL WAS A ‘DISPROPORTIONATE RESPONSE’

    PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said Iran’s attack on Israel was a “disproportionate response” to the bombing of its consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Firing a barrage of missiles and drones on Israel was an “unprecedented, very dangerous” act in the volatile Middle East, Macron said of Saturday’s attacks.

    Speaking to French media BFMTV and RMC on Monday, Macron said that France had carried out “interceptions” of missiles that Iran aimed at Israel at the request of Jordan.

    “We have condemned, we have intervened, we will do everything to avoid an escalation, an inferno,” Macron said.

    He said France will try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.”

    Instead of retaliating by attacking Tehran, France will work to “isolate Iran, increase sanctions and find a path to peace in the region,” Macron said.

    GERMAN FM TELLS IRANIAN COUNTERPART NOT TO FURTHER ESCALATE TENSIONS

    PARIS – Germany’s foreign minister says she has made “unmistakably” clear to her Iranian counterpart that Tehran must not further escalate tensions in the Middle East.

    Annalena Baerbock spoke by phone Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, following a previous conversation last week before Iran’s attack on Israel. She said she “warned him unmistakably against a further escalation.”

    She said at a news conference in Paris on Monday that “Iran is isolated.” She added that “Israel won in a defensive way” thanks to its strong air defense and the intervention of the U.S., Britain and Arab countries.

    Baerbock said that “it is now important to secure this defensive victory diplomatically” and prevent a regional confrontation.

    Asked whether Israel has the right to strike back against Iran, Baerbock said that “the right to self-defense means fending off an attack; retaliation is not a category in international law.” She said she had made that point to Amirabdollahian last week.

    SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING ON IRAN ATTACK. NO ACTION TAKEN

    UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss Iran’s attack on Israel. The meeting ended without any action by the council.

    “Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. “Now is the time for maximum restraint.”

    Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the council: “Last night, the world witnessed an unprecedented escalation that serves as the clearest proof for what happens when warnings aren’t heeded. Israel is not the boy who cried wolf.”

    Iranian Ambassador Saeid Iravani said: “Iran’s operation was entirely in the exercise of Iran’s inherent right to self-defense. This concluded action was necessary and proportionate.

    U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said after the meeting ended, “There has to be a Security Council response to what happened last night.”

    ISRAELI MILITARY LIFTS RESTRICTIONS, SAYS SCHOOLS CAN REOPEN

    The Israeli military says children can return to school after lifting a series of restrictions on public activities that were imposed ahead of Sunday’s Iranian missile strike.

    The military’s Home Front command late Saturday canceled school and limited the size of public gatherings as a safety precaution ahead of the missile attack.

    Monday’s announcement reflected the determination that the threat of further attacks has passed.

    The Home Front Command says the changes went into effect at midnight.

    BIDEN SPEAKS WITH JORDAN’S KING ABDULLAH II

    The White House says President Joe Biden spoke by phone Sunday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II about the situation in the Middle East.

    Biden strongly condemned the attack launched by Iran, which the White House says also “threatened Jordan and the Jordanian people.” Both leaders said they continue to monitor the situation and will remain in close touch over the coming days.

    They also discussed the situation in Gaza, and reaffirmed their cooperation to increase critical humanitarian assistance to Gaza and to find a path to end the crisis as soon as possible.

    ISRAEL’S PRESIDENT SAYS RESPONSE TO IRAN ATTACK SHOWED ‘IRONCLAD’ ALLIANCE BETWEEN ISRAEL, US

    Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on CNN Sunday afternoon that the last 24 hours had shown the “ironclad” alliance between the U.S. and Israel.

    Herzog was referring to the Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building. Israel and its coalition of partners, including the U.S., were able to defeat 99% of the munitions.

    “We can argue on many things and it’s legitimate,” Herzog said. “We have our objectives and we are a small nation. The United States is a world superpower, has its interests. But at the end we must have a dialogue.”

    Herzog, referring to the Hamas attack on Israel in October and Israel’s response, said everyone who watches and analyzes Israel must understand that “we have been met by an empire of evil. It’s true. It’s absolutely true. Our citizens were raped and butchered and burned and tortured and abducted in an unbelievably unprecedented massacre.”

    Herzog then called it a “Hamas-acre.”

    He said Israel is working closely with the U.S. and other allies on the situation in Gaza.

    US SAYS IRAN’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL CLEARLY INTENDED TO CAUSE ‘SIGNIFICANT’ DAMAGE, DEATH

    WASHINGTON — Senior Biden administration officials said Sunday it was clear Iran’s attack on Israel was intended to cause significant damage and death, and U.S. officials had been in regular contact with their Israeli counterparts.

    Israel and its coalition of partners were able to defeat 99% of the munitions, a senior administration official. If the assault had been successful, “this attack could have cause an uncontrollable escalation of broader regional conflict.”

    The heads of the G7 leading industrialized nations on their call Sunday were “totally united” in the condemnation of Iran and need to hold Iran to account for the assault, the official said.

    Biden in his call with Netanyahu reaffirmed his unwavering support for Israel’s defense, the official said, but then told the prime minister “that Israel really came out far ahead in this exchange.”

    ISRAEL ACTIVATING TWO RESERVE BRIGADES FOR OPERATIONS IN GAZA

    JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is activating two reserve brigades for “operational activities” in Gaza.

    Sunday’s announcement comes as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah – the southern Gaza city that Israel says is Hamas’ last major stronghold.

    Israel last week withdrew most of its remaining ground forces from Gaza after six months of war, leaving its troop levels in the territory at the lowest level in months.

    The Rafah invasion faces stiff international opposition, in large part because over 1 million people, roughly half of Gaza’s population, are now crowded into the city after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory. They say they have nowhere else to go.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to complete the Gaza operation. He says Israel has even set a date for the operation and claimed that Israel has a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah.

    G7 COUNTRIES CONDEMN IRAN’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL

    ROME — Leaders of the G7 — the informal gathering of industrialized countries that includes the United States, United Kingdom and France — issued a statement Sunday “unequivocally condemning in the strongest terms Iran’s direct and unprecedented attack against Israel.”

    The statement came after the leaders met in a video conference hosted by the Italian presidency.

    “Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel. Israel, with the help of its partners, defeated the attack,” the statement reads. “We express our full solidarity and support to Israel and its people and reaffirm our commitment towards its security.”

    The group also stressed that Iran “with its actions, has further stepped toward the destabilization of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation.”

    The G7 leaders said that scenario must be avoided.

    “We will continue to work to stabilize the situation and avoid further escalation. In this spirit, we demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives,” they said.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Associated Press

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  • UK’s David Cameron heads to Washington for Ukraine talks after meeting Donald Trump in Florida

    UK’s David Cameron heads to Washington for Ukraine talks after meeting Donald Trump in Florida

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    WASHINGTON – British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is in Washington on Tuesday to press senior Republicans to unlock money for Ukraine, after meeting a skeptical Donald Trump in Florida.

    Cameron says victory for Ukraine is “vital for American and European security,” but the former president and presumptive Republican candidate is a critic of continued U.S. support, and lawmakers aligned with him are holding up an aid package for Kyiv in Congress.

    The U.K.’s Foreign Office confirmed the meeting, which was described as “productive” by the British side.

    The U.K. government said it’s “standard practice” for government ministers to meet allied nations’ opposition leaders in election years.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in February with U.K. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who is the favorite to become prime minister in an election later this year. When Cameron was prime minister in 2012, he met the then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

    British officials did not say how the meeting went. Cameron and Trump have had several notable differences of opinion in the past. Cameron called Trump’s proposal during his first presidential campaign to ban Muslims from the U.S. “divisive, stupid and wrong.”

    Cameron was British prime minister during the U.K.’s 2016 referendum on whether to leave the European Union — a move he opposed but Trump enthusiastically supported. Cameron resigned after voters narrowly rejected his call to remain in the bloc.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unexpectedly brought Cameron back into government last year as Britain’s top diplomat.

    In Washington, Cameron plans to urge U.S. lawmakers to approve a new aid package for Ukraine, warning Congress that it is putting the security of the West at risk by continuing to hold up the funding. He’s due to hold talks with lawmakers including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and is hoping to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose role is key.

    In a video posted last week on social network X, Cameron said: “Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress.”

    A $60 billion package of military aid is bogged down in the House of Representatives as populist conservatives seek to block further funding for the two-year-old conflict and some mainstream Republicans demand concessions on border security before supporting the bill.

    After Cameron urged U.S. lawmakers in February not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s, Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene said he should “worry about his own country.”

    Ahead of his trip, Cameron said that “success for Ukraine and failure for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin are vital for American and European security.”

    “This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future,” he said. “The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to re-draw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran and North Korea.”

    Cameron is also due to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, including efforts to reach a “sustainable cease-fire” and get more aid into Gaza, in talks with officials including Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. The U.K. is sending a Royal Navy ship to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster efforts to open a maritime aid corridor between Cyprus and a temporary U.S.-built pier in Gaza.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Associated Press

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  • Failure in Ukraine ‘will remake the world,’ UK and Poland warn deadlocked US

    Failure in Ukraine ‘will remake the world,’ UK and Poland warn deadlocked US

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    The joint plea comes as U.S. Republicans continue to hold out on a fresh funding agreement for the war-torn country, and as European capitals mull their options to constrain Moscow amid signs of fatigue two years on.

    “This war is the biggest test of our generation,” the pair write. “A wholly unprovoked invasion. A blatant threat to our collective security. The clearest example of one country trying to extinguish the independence of another.

    “Other adversaries are watching how we respond. Will we stand with Ukraine? Will we stand up to Putin’s naked aggression? The consequences of failure will not just be felt in Ukraine — they will remake the world as we know it.”

    Cameron, a former British prime minister-turned-foreign-secretary, got short shrift earlier this month when he traveled to Washington to try to drum up support for Ukraine. U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, told the U.K.’s top diplomat to “kiss my ass.”

    But Cameron and Sikorski, who serves as foreign affairs point-man in Donald Tusk’s administration, quote 1996 American comedy film Jerry Maguire as they urge the U.S. and allies to “show me the money.”

    “Britain and the EU have committed more funding to Ukraine, and we believe it is in the interest of America — and all of our allies — to do the same,” they write.

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    Matt Honeycombe-Foster

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  • UK could recognize Palestinian state before any deal with Israel, says David Cameron

    UK could recognize Palestinian state before any deal with Israel, says David Cameron

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    Speaking to reporters on a trip to Lebanon Thursday, Cameron said U.K. recognition of an independent Palestinian state “can’t come at the start of the process, but it doesn’t have to be the very end of the process.”

    “It could be something that we consider as this process, as this advance to a solution, becomes more real,” Cameron said.

    “What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a horizon towards a better future, the future of having a state of their own,” he said, adding that recognition of a Palestinian state is “absolutely vital for the long-term peace and security of the region.”

    Cameron is back from a tour of the Middle East to try and push a five-point plan to quell the latest war between Israel and Hamas.

    The U.K. is among those continuing to argue that a two-state solution is the only viable long-term solution to the conflict. But such a proposal faces fierce resistance from Netanyahu and members of his government. The Israeli prime minister has called for “full Israeli security control over the entire area in the west of Jordan,” a move he made clear is “contrary to a Palestinian state.”

    The U.K. government has previously said only that it will “recognize a Palestinian state at a time when it best serves the objective of peace” and has rejected calls from British lawmakers to go further.



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    Bethany Dawson

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  • UK slaps fresh sanctions on Iran

    UK slaps fresh sanctions on Iran

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    The Foreign Office said the sanctioned Iranian officials are members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a branch of the Iranian military which broadcaster ITV linked to a plot to kill two journalists on British soil in a recent investigation.

    But the sanctions fall short of a full proscription of the IRGC, a step called for by some British lawmakers who want it designated as a terrorist group.

    “The Iranian regime and the criminal gangs who operate on its behalf pose an unacceptable threat to the U.K.’s security,” Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement.

    He added: “The U.K. and U.S. have sent a clear message – we will not tolerate this threat.”

    The curbs come amid heightened tensions between U.S. allies and Iran, although are not being directly linked by the U.K. government to the latest flare-up.

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday urged Iran to “de-escalate” after three U.S. troops were killed in a drone strike on an American base in Jordan. The U.S. and U.K. have blamed Iran-backed militants for the attack, although Tehran has denied playing a role.



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    Andrew McDonald

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  • Permanent ceasefire in Gaza & a two-state solution can be realised, says Cameron

    Permanent ceasefire in Gaza & a two-state solution can be realised, says Cameron

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    A permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution can be realised, Lord Cameron has declared.

    The Foreign Secretary’s comments come after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

    1

    Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution is still possibleCredit: AFP

    The ex-PM said there is “a route to having a Palestinian state” despite Mr Netanyahu continuing to reject calls for a two-state solution after the conflict.

    The Israeli PM said last week the idea would “endanger the state of Israel” and slammed the “attempt to coerce us”.

    Speaking during his diplomatic tour of the ­Middle East, the Tory peer told broadcasters: “It’s time for an immediate pause in the fighting because we’ve got to not only get the aid in, but, crucially, we’ve got to get those hostages out.

    “And what I think we can do now is plan for how you turn that pause into a permanent, sustainable ceasefire without a return to fighting. That’s what I was pushing on him (Netanyahu).

    “And that’s what I’ll be talking about here today.”

    He said Hamas terrorists must leave Gaza for a cessation of hostilities, but that the Palestinians must also be shown there is a “route to having a Palestinian state, to having a new future”.

    Earlier in the week Hamas has said there was “no chance” of releasing the remaining 130 hostages after Benjamin Netanyahu rejected another ceasefire deal.

    On Sunday, the Israeli PM turned down the conditions presented by Hamas that would include Israel’s complete withdrawal and leaving the terror group in power in Gaza.

    Netanyahu said: “In exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the murderers and rapists.

    “And leaving Hamas intact.

    “I reject outright the terms of surrender of the monsters of Hamas.”

    In response, hours later, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Tel Aviv’s refusal to end the military offensive in Gaza “means there is no chance for the return of the (Israeli) captives”.

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    Martina Bet

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  • David Cameron: It feels like the 1930s again and ‘evil’ Putin can’t win in Ukraine

    David Cameron: It feels like the 1930s again and ‘evil’ Putin can’t win in Ukraine

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    DAVOS, Switzerland — It feels like the 1930s all over again but with Russian leader Vladimir Putin playing the role of Hitler, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron told POLITICO.

    The war in Ukraine remains Cameron’s “absolute number one priority,” he told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast during an interview on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

    “This is the challenge for our generation,” Cameron said. “This is like being a foreign minister or a leader in Europe in the 1930s, we have got to not appease Putin. We have got to stand up to the evil that his invasion represents.”

    The former U.K. prime minister’s remarks come as the West scrambles to keep Ukraine topped up with high-tech weaponry to fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion, while bracing for the potential return of NATO-skeptic Donald Trump to the White House.

    “One thing we can do is demonstrate during the course of this year that Putin isn’t winning,” Cameron said.

    Israel’s war on Hamas

    Turning to Israel’s war on Hamas in the Middle East, Cameron defended Britain’s refusal to call for an immediate cease-fire, as the Israel Defense Forces bombard Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

    “I think that just wouldn’t have worked because if you want a two-state solution, if you want a sustainable cease-fire, you can’t ask the Israelis to have a two-state solution with the people who perpetrated 7th October in command in Gaza, still able to launch rockets into their country,” he said.

    Cameron said he felt “deeply moved” by the suffering on both sides of the conflict. “I have been to a kibbutz in the south of Israel and seen the results of what happened on 7th October and the true horror of it,” he said.

    “I’ve also listened to [accounts from British Embassy staff in Cairo] coming out of Gaza and what they’ve seen, what they’ve experienced, and the loved ones they’ve lost, and the family members they’ve seen killed,” Cameron added. “You know, a life is a life. I feel deeply about this, but I’m a very practical person and I want to know how do we bring this to an end?”

    Cameron also kept open the door for future airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been attacking commercial and Western naval vessels in the Red Sea, resulting in a major bombing retaliation from an allied coalition last week.

    “I think it is important ultimately to show you are prepared to follow up words with actions,” Cameron warned the Houthis, adding, “bear in mind when you make warnings, you have to be prepared to take action.”

    Rwanda policy strife

    On the domestic front, Cameron said he is “absolutely” behind Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts to tackle undocumented migration by sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

    Cameron defended the policy despite describing it as “unorthodox” and “out-of-box thinking.” Asked whether he would have devised the policy when he was prime minister, Cameron said: “Yes, my heart is absolutely in it.”

    After passing a crucial stage in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the legislation is expected to go on to meet stiff resistance in Britain’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, where Cameron now sits as a peer.

    Reflecting on his return to front-line politics compared to his time as prime minister, Cameron said “it certainly makes you think a lot about how about making decisions, about trying to find the time to think through decisions. It’s still very, very difficult.”

    Cameron said: “You can’t determine how people see you,” in response to a question on whether he was sensitive to personal criticism.

    “I remember once bumping into Steve Bell, the Guardian cartoonist, and saying, ‘why do you always portray me with this sort of condom over my head? What is it I’ve done to deserve this?’ And he roared with laughter and said, ‘oh, you’re just too smooth.’ And that’s the only way I could put it. Strange way of putting it, but there we are. You have to take the rough of with the smooth in this job,” Cameron said.

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  • US warship shoots down drones as Red Sea crisis deepens

    US warship shoots down drones as Red Sea crisis deepens

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    An American destroyer intercepted four drones fired by Houthi militants into the busy shipping lanes of the Red Sea, as the escalating crisis saw two commercial tankers hit in one chaotic day.

    In a statement issued Sunday, U.S. Central Command said its navy had “shot down four unmanned aerial drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen that were inbound to the USS Laboon” the day before. The American destroyer had been patrolling the area as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the Washington-led mission to prevent violence spilling over into the strategic waterway.

    On Saturday, the Pentagon announced that a Japanese-owned, Liberian-flagged chemical tanker, the Chem Pluto, had been struck by a drone in the Indian Ocean, stating that the attack was launched from Iran.

    According to data from analytics platform Kpler, seen by POLITICO, the Chem Pluto had been carrying almost 43,000 barrels of highly-flammable benzene en route to the port of Mangaluru at the time, but no casualties have been reported. The attack was well outside the usual area of operation for Houthi drones, around 300 nautical miles from the coast of India and it is believed to be the first time the U.S. has accused Iran directly of targeting commercial shipping since the crisis began.

    Washington has previously said intelligence revealed Iran was “deeply involved” in planning attacks on vessels, working closely with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to cause a crisis that experts fear is already threatening the world economy. Houthi forces say they are targeting vessels with links to Israel in retaliation for its war in Gaza.

    On Saturday evening, two civilian ships in the Red Sea area sounded the alarm that they were under attack. The Blaamanen, a Norwegian-flagged vessel carrying a quarter of a million tons of sunflower oil, reported it had narrowly avoided an attack drone, while Indian-flagged crude oil tanker Saibaba confirmed it had taken a direct hit.

    Close to the Suez Canal which links Europe to Asia, more than 10 percent of global trade passes through the Red Sea, with around 17,000 ships a year crossing between the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea.

    In his first interview since being appointed as U.K. foreign secretary, former British prime minister David Cameron, told The Telegraph on Friday that the West must send “an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated” to Tehran. Along with France, Italy and Spain, the U.K. is one of a handful of countries joining forces with the U.S. as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.

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  • Cameron and Baerbock call for ‘sustainable cease-fire’ in Gaza

    Cameron and Baerbock call for ‘sustainable cease-fire’ in Gaza

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    British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Sunday called for a “sustainable cease-fire” in the Middle East, lamenting that “too many civilians have been killed” in the Israel-Hamas war.

    In a joint article in the Sunday Times, Baerbock and Cameron made clear that: “We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate cease-fire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward.”

    “We must do all we can to pave the way to a sustainable cease-fire, leading to a sustainable peace,” they said.

    The article represents an apparent shift in the stances of both countries on the conflict in Gaza. The British government has called for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting, but has stopped short of urging a cease-fire. Germany has staunchly defended Israel’s right to defend itself since the attacks by Hamas on October 7.

    Last Tuesday, both Germany and the U.K. abstained from voting on the U.N. General Assembly’s call for an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip — which passed by 153 to 10 with 23 abstentions.

    “Our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today. It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations,” the two ministers said in their article, stressing that they support “a cease-fire, but only if it is sustainable.”

    The international calls for an immediate cease-fire are “an understandable reaction to such intense suffering, and we share the view that this conflict cannot drag on and on,” Baerbock and Cameron wrote. That is why the two governments “supported the recent humanitarian pauses” and are “pushing the diplomatic effort to agree further pauses to get more aid in and more hostages out,” they said.

    “Only extremists like Hamas want us stuck in an endless cycle of violence, sacrificing more innocent lives for their fanatical ideology,” the two ministers wrote.

    However, “the Israeli government should do more to discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians, ensuring its campaign targets Hamas leaders and operatives,” Cameron and Baerbock said.

    “We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate cease-fire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward” because “it ignores why Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas barbarically attacked Israel and still fires rockets to kill Israeli citizens every day,” they said. Baerbock and Cameron prefer “a sustainable cease-fire, leading to a sustainable peace. The sooner it comes, the better — the need is urgent,” they said.

    French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, meanwhile, on Sunday urged an “immediate and durable” truce in the Gaza Strip. Speaking in Tel Aviv during a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, Colonna said that “the truce should lead to a lasting cease-fire with the aim of releasing all hostages and delivering aid to Gaza.”

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  • David Cameron is living his best life — while Boris Johnson squirms

    David Cameron is living his best life — while Boris Johnson squirms

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    LONDON — As David Cameron heads to Washington this week for his first big speech back on the world stage, his bête noire Boris Johnson will be sat in a dingy room in west London.

    Johnson is to give two days of televised testimony before Britain’s COVID-19 inquiry, answering a barrage of questions under oath about decisions he took while prime minister in 2020 and 2021 which — many believe — cost thousands of people their lives.

    As Johnson battles to salvage his battered reputation, Cameron will be strutting through America in a ministerial motorcade, glad-handing Washington’s power players and preparing to address the Aspen Security Forum as U.K. foreign secretary.

    It’s a stark symbol of just how quickly the political sands can shift.

    Cameron had long been written out of the British political scene, famously retreating to a hut in his garden to write his memoirs after calling — and losing — the divisive Brexit referendum in 2016. Johnson — an old acquaintance from his school days — had fought on the opposite side, and his star rose rapidly after the referendum victory. As Cameron licked his wounds, Johnson became foreign secretary in 2016 and then prime minister — with the landslide majority Cameron also craved — three years later.

    But with Johnson now long gone and Cameron handed a dramatic ministerial comeback — along with a seat in the House of Lords — in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle last month, the two men’s fate has come full circle.

    And former colleagues say Cameron is making no secret of his delight at the turn of events, frequently texting associates to say how much he is enjoying the new gig. 

    Despite now having the run of the palatial Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office — known as the grandest building on Whitehall — Cameron has also been awarded two large private rooms in the House of Lords, displacing Conservative colleagues in the process. 

    Some friends believe he’s having more fun than when he was actually running the country.

    “He has got the bits of the job he enjoyed, he has shed the bits he didn’t. It is the perfect semi-retirement job for him,” a former No. 10 adviser who worked for Cameron said. (The adviser was granted anonymity, like others in this article, to speak candidly about private interactions with the foreign secretary)

    “All prime ministers like being on the world stage. It allows them to grapple with big issues,” a second former No. 10 adviser who worked closely with Cameron said. 

    Cameron’s closest political ally, his ex-Chancellor George Osborne, says his friend’s return will have fulfilled the “strong element of public service” in the ex-prime minister, which he claimed has “always been part of his DNA.”

    Cameron’s closest political ally, his ex-Chancellor George Osborne (left), says his friend’s return will have fulfilled the “strong element of public service” in the ex-PM | Pool photo by Petar Kujundzic via Getty Images

    “It’s like the sound of the trumpet. Back on … the political playing field, and serving your country. He’s doing it because above all he thinks he can make a difference,” Osborne said on a recent podcast.

    Others are less impressed.

    One Whitehall official, while acknowledging the diplomatic advantages of having a former PM in post, described Cameron’s appointment as “failing upward, writ large.”

    Cameron’s peerage means MPs cannot quiz him in the House of Commons like other ministers, another fact which rankles with opponents.

    “Once again Cameron is jetsetting around the globe with seemingly no accountability to the British public,” Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said. 

    “We have very little idea whom this unelected foreign secretary is meeting and what he is saying. Maybe if he spent as much time — or indeed any time at all — making himself available for scrutiny from MPs, we would understand exactly what his foreign policy priorities are.”

    Back on the world stage

    On his first visit to the U.S. since becoming foreign secretary on Wednesday, Cameron will meet key members of the Biden administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as Republican and Democratic Congressional figures in an effort to shore up support for Ukraine. 

    Cameron’s appointment has certainly made diplomats in foreign capitals sit up and take notice, if only because his is a familiar name in the hard-to-follow soap opera of British politics. 

    Even in the U.S., his appointment triggered some excitement. As one U.K. official put it, “Americans have a sort of respect for former office-bearers in a way that Brits don’t.”

    An EU diplomat said that despite having “gambled” on the Brexit referendum, Cameron is still well thought of in Brussels.

    Cameron will certainly feel at home, having relished life on the world stage as prime minister, according to multiple advisers who worked with him at the time. 

    “You get the idiosyncrasies of different leaders and he enjoyed that. He has a good sense of humor,” the second former adviser quoted above said. The aide recounted how a Nigerian president had once left a soap opera playing on TV throughout his meeting with the British prime minister. “[Cameron] came out laughing. He could roll with the weird and wonderful.”

    With Johnson now long gone and Cameron handed a dramatic ministerial comeback in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle last month, the two men’s fate has come full circle | Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

    Predictably, Cameron has slipped back easily into government — perhaps a little too easily, according to the Whitehall official quoted above who said he had to be reminded he needed clearance before texting friendly hellos to former acquaintances from foreign powers. 

    The same person said he was demanding fast, detailed briefings at a rate more associated with No. 10, and has sometimes sent papers back asking for a more creative approach. They pointed out his only previous job in government had been as prime minister, which influences his way of working. 

    Green with envy

    The notoriously competitive Cameron also won’t be displeased by the reaction to his appointment by his political peers. 

    Arch-rival and former school frenemy Johnson, who was ousted from office in 2022 over his handling of various personal scandals, couldn’t help but mock Cameron’s return, describing it as “great news for retreads everywhere.”

    Osborne, Cameron’s closest political friend, admitted to being “a little bit jealous, but in a good way,” after he returned. 

    “There’s a little bit of me that goes ‘I’d fancy being foreign secretary,’” Osborne admitted, before insisting: “But I’m very happy with what I’m doing with the rest of my life, and I think it probably keeps me sane.”

    Even the man who appointed Cameron — Sunak — may start to envy Cameron’s ability to detach from the day-to-day management of a fractious Conservative Party, something he endured throughout his own premiership from 2010-2016. 

    Two government officials said Cameron was essentially “prime minister of foreign affairs,” leaving Sunak to fix his attention on a raft of nightmarish domestic problems in the run-up to the next election, which he is expected to lose.

    “[Cameron] can really dedicate himself in a way he never could as PM, because you’re on the plane back and you’ve got to deal with Mark Pritchard and circus tent animals, or whatever else there is when you are prime minister,” a third former adviser said, referencing a furor over a Tory backbench rebellion on banning circus animals. 

    Adrenaline rush

    Life will certainly be different from the past seven years. Shortly after his appointment last month, Cameron told peers the Chippy Larder food project — where he volunteered for two years during his political retirement — would have to manage without him for a while.

    “There’s an element of it being quite hard to replay that adrenaline rush [of being PM], the pace of what you do,” the second former adviser quoted above said, noting Cameron had quit before he was 50 and had been “at the peak of his abilities.”

    “It’s a shot of redemption,” the third former adviser added. “He’s got another chance at it — and this one probably isn’t going to end in his failure.”

    Jon Stone contributed reporting

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  • King Charles, David Cameron and Rishi Sunak show UK’s COP28 identity crisis

    King Charles, David Cameron and Rishi Sunak show UK’s COP28 identity crisis

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    LONDON — COP28, meet the U.K.’s three amigos.

    One is a king who has spent most of his adult life campaigning for bold action on global warming — but is now bound by ancient convention to stick to his government’s skeptical script.

    The second is a prime minister who just scaled back Britain’s net zero ambitions and wants to “max out” fossil fuel production at home — and stands accused by former colleagues of being “uninterested” in environmental policies.

    And the third? A former prime minister — now the U.K. foreign secretary — who once pledged to lead the “greenest government ever,” but then grew tired of what he called “the green crap” … and is already showing signs of overshadowing his new boss.

    All three — King Charles III, Rishi Sunak, and David Cameron — are due to descend on the United Nations climate conference, COP28, which starts in Dubai next week, rounding off a year set to be the hottest ever recorded. (Sunak and the king are already confirmed to attend, while Cameron is due to do so in the coming days.)

    The unlikely trio, each jostling for their place on the world stage, are symbolic of a wider identity crisis for the U.K. heading into the summit.

    The country staked a claim as a world leader on climate when it hosted COP26 just two years ago. But it is now viewed with uncertainty by allies pushing for stronger action on global warming, following Sunak’s embrace of North Sea oil and gas and his retreat on some key domestic net zero targets.

    “There is a lot of confusion about what the U.K. is going to do this year,” said one European diplomat, granted anonymity to give a candid assessment ahead of the summit.

    “It raises the question, which team are they on? I think we’ll need to find out during COP.”

    Green king, Blue Prime Minister

    One of the key moments for the U.K. will come early in the conference, when Charles delivers an opening speech at the World Climate Action Summit of world leaders, the grand curtain raiser on a fortnight of talks.

    Sunak is expected to fly in the same day to deliver his own speech later in the session.

    Rishi Sunak speaks at COP26 in Glasgow | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

    At least Charles has been allowed to attend the summit this year. In 2022, then Prime Minister Liz Truss advised the king against travelling to Egypt for COP27.

    But anyone looking for signs of friction between Sunak and the climate-conscious king will be unlikely to find them in the text of Charles’ address.

    Speeches by the monarch are signed off by No. 10 Downing Street and this one will be no different, said one minister, granted anonymity to discuss interactions between the PM’s office and Buckingham Palace.

    That’s not to say tensions don’t exist. Just don’t expect the king to overstep the constitutional ground rules, said Charles’ friend and biographer, the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby.

    “I can only imagine that he must be intensely frustrated that the government has granted licenses in the North Sea,” Dimbleby told POLITICO. “Whatever the actual practical implications of the drilling in terms of combating climate change, it will not send a great message to the world from a nation that claims moral leadership on the issue.”

    But Charles finds himself in “a unique position,” Dimbleby added.

    “He is the only head of state who has a very long track record on insisting that climate change is a threat to the future of humanity … He speaks with great authority — but of course on terms from which the government will not dissent, because he has an overriding commitment, regardless of his own views, to abide by the constitutional obligations of the head of state in this country.”

    Others see the speech as a major test for Charles.

    “This is one of the most significant speeches he’ll make as king,” said Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at the Royal Holloway university.

    Prescott noted the speech will be watched closely for clues as to how Charles maintains “political impartiality while pursuing the environmental issue — striking the right balance.”

    “There will be some to-ing and fro-ing between Downing Street and the Palace,” he added. “But fundamentally he has to comply with any advice he gets.”

    As is the convention, Downing Street declined to comment on any discussions with Buckingham Palace. The Palace did not respond to a request for comment.

    Fossil fuel politics

    The king is attending the summit at the invitation of its hosts, the United Arab Emirates — a sign of close ties between the British establishment and the Gulf monarchies presiding over some of the world’s biggest oil and gas-producing countries.

    It’s a connection some view as a potential asset for British climate diplomacy.  

    The then Prince Charles addresses the audience at COP26 | Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

    “Trust between these royal families and institutions could provide the chance to have candid conversations” on issues such as fossil fuel reduction and the need to expand renewable energy supply, said Edward Davey, head of the U.K office of the World Resources Institute, where the king is patron.

    “One could imagine those issues being discussed in a respectful way, in a way that perhaps other leaders couldn’t achieve.”

    “I think it’s perfectly possible for the sovereign and the PM to both attend a COP and for them both to play a complementary role,” Davey added.

    Others are much more skeptical. “[The king] has a lot of close friends in the Middle East who are massive producers of oil,” said Graham Smith, boss of the Republic campaign group, which wants to abolish the British monarchy.

    “They can use him as a point of access to the British state because he has direct access to the government, and whatever he says to government is entirely secretive.”

    Cameron, meanwhile, has his own close ties to the UAE and — before his return to government — took on a teaching post at New York University Abu Dhabi earlier this year.

    Negotiation confusion

    The U.K.’s big three will be joined in Dubai by Energy Secretary — and Sunak ally — Claire Coutinho. But the head of the British delegation is a junior minister, Graham Stuart, who does not attend Cabinet.

    While the country will be officially arguing — alongside the EU — for a “phase-out of unabated fossil fuels,” Stuart sparked confusion earlier this month when he suggested to MPs that he was not troubled by the distinction between a “phase-out” (a total end to production of fossil fuels, where carbon capture is not applied) and a “phase-down,” the softer language preferred by the summit’s president, UAE national oil company boss Sultan Al-Jaber.

    Chris Skidmore, an MP and climate activist in Sunak’s Conservative party, and the author of a government-commissioned report on net zero policy, said Stuart was wrong if he thought the distinction was just “semantics.”

    “The fate of the world is resting on a distinction between phase-out and phase-down. But the U.K. finds itself now [unable] to argue for phase-out because it’s joined the phase-down club.

    “That in itself puts us in an entirely different strategic position to where we were.”

    Climate brain drain

    London’s climate diplomatic corps are still well-respected around the world, said the same European diplomat quoted above. Even with Sunak’s loosening of net zero policies, the U.K. is seen to be in the group of countries, alongside the EU, leading the push for strong action on cutting emissions.

    And there is a chance Cameron’s appointment will see more effort going into the U.K.’s global reputation on climate, according to Skidmore.

    Citizen scientist Pat Stirling checks the quality of the River Wye water in Hay-on-Wye | Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images

    “It was under his premiership that the U.K. played a leading role in helping to get the Paris Agreement [to limit global warming] signed through … It will be interesting to see if he comes to COP and wants to play on the opportunities for the U.K. to demonstrate its climate credentials,” he said.

    But the team that pulled off a relatively successful COP26 now has significantly less firepower, said one former U.K. climate official, who warned their efforts risk being undermined by No. 10’s approach to fossil fuels.

    “There was a brain drain of experts working on climate, [the sort of] officials that could help hold government to account internally and try to maintain the level of ambition that we needed,” the former official said.

    This spring, the U.K. scrapped the dedicated role of climate envoy, held by the experienced diplomat Nick Bridge since 2017. The remaining team of climate diplomats have been left frustrated, the former official said, by changes to domestic climate policy driven by a Downing Street operation fixated with next year’s U.K. general election, without consideration for how they might affect Britain’s negotiating position on the world stage.

    “When Sunak gave his speech in September [rolling back some interim green targets], his team didn’t even realize that a U.N. climate action summit was happening in New York,” the former official said. “His team aren’t thinking in this way. For them it’s just about votes and the election.”

    The risk, said the European diplomat, is that countries at COP28 pushing for softer targets on fossil fuels — likely to include the Gulf states, China and Russia — could point to Sunak’s statements on a “proportionate, pragmatic” approach to net zero as a reason to ignore the U.K. and its allies when they call for higher ambition.

    “This will happen,” the European diplomat said. “They can point to the U.K.’s prime minister and say — ‘Look what the U.K. is doing with its own climate ambitions. So why are you being such a hard-ass about ours?’”

    As for Cameron’s potential impact at the FCDO, the European diplomat was skeptical.

    “It was a big surprise for everybody, but we’re not sure what he can do,” they said. “Maybe he can call a referendum on the climate?”

    Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.

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  • Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron made foreign minister in surprise political comeback

    Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron made foreign minister in surprise political comeback

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    LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 19: Former British Prime Minister David Cameron leaves after giving evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry on June 19, 2023 in London, England. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is examining the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and learning lessons for the future. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

    Carl Court | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    LONDON – Former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron was appointed foreign secretary Monday in a sweeping reshuffle of current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet.

    Cameron was seen walking into No. 10 — the official residence and office of the British prime minister — to meet with Sunak, following the abrupt sacking of Suella Braverman as interior minister.

    Cameron served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016 and presided over Britain’s controversial Brexit vote, which ultimately led to his resignation.

    He is the figurehead of an age of Conservative leadership that Sunak has previously heavily lambasted. In a conference speech in October, Sunak positioned himself as the U.K.’s “change” candidate, decrying the prior 30 years of British politics — through which the Tories governed for around two-thirds — as a failure.

    David Cameron, UK foreign secretary, departs 10 Downing Street after being appointed in London, UK, on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023.

    Bloomberg | Getty Images

    A royal decree eased Cameron’s return to the political fold. Under British law, only current MPs or members of the House of Lords can become government ministers. Cameron quit as a Member of Parliament in 2016, but King Charles III confirmed him as a life peer on Monday, raising him as a lord and enabling him to assume the role of foreign secretary.

    Cameron was viewed as fervently pro-China during his leadership and spent time afterwards trying to set up a $1 billion U.K.-China investment fund — a plan which was later shelved. It is currently unclear how his foreign policy agenda will adapt against a backdrop of increased Sino skepticism among Western nations and ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.

    “We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East,” Cameron said in a statement.

    “At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more important for this country to stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard.”

    The reshuffle comes as Sunak attempts to reassert his authority, with his ruling Conservative Party trailing opposition Labour by more than 20 points in opinion polls ahead of a general election due before January 2025.

    Speculation over Braverman’s dismissal arose last week after an op-ed she penned was published in The Times newspaper, ignoring guidance from Downing Street and accusing London police of political bias in policing protests.

    The former interior minister has long been a controversial figure, attracting criticism over her plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and her comments describing homelessness as a “lifestyle choice.

    James Cleverly, who formerly served as foreign secretary, was appointed Braverman’s successor. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt remains in post ahead of his Autumn Statement to be delivered next week, though further reappointments at the top of government are expected Monday.

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  • Rishi Sunak’s biggest gamble

    Rishi Sunak’s biggest gamble

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    LONDON — With one shock hire and one brutal sacking, Rishi Sunak has re-established his Conservative credentials. Just not the type many in his party wanted to see. 

    On one level, the British prime minister’s dramatic Cabinet reshuffle — executed Monday after a weekend of speculation — made a lot of sense. This was Sunak’s chance to stamp his authority on a ministerial team he partially inherited from his predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and create a unit focused on delivering his own electoral message.

    The unexpected appointment of former prime minister David Cameron as foreign secretary was designed to transmit seriousness, with the added bonus of drawing headlines away from Sunak’s decision to sack his firebrand home secretary, Suella Braverman.

    In her stead Sunak appointed the calm and affable James Cleverly, who previously held the foreign affairs brief. A number of younger footsoldiers loyal to Sunak received promotions in the ensuing reshuffle. 

    But with an election looming next year, the strategy laid out by Sunak on Monday betrays a risky change of tack.

    Only a few weeks ago the PM was trying to paint himself as the “change” candidate in the election, implicitly criticizing the previous 12 years of Conservative-led governments — including those of Cameron. That approach now appears to have been junked, in favor of more traditional Tory messaging about statesmanship and stability.

    Running out of road

    In truth, Sunak had little option but to be bold.

    His party remains way behind in the polls, and neither a post-summer policy ‘reset’ nor a party conference speech scattered with disconnected policies managed to shift the dial.

    Last week’s King’s Speech — which laid out Sunak’s legislative program for the next 12 months — was deemed lackluster, and he has little headroom for spending in next week’s autumn financial statement.

    Sunak therefore opted to deploy a attention-grabbing reshuffle as one of the few levers he has left to pull before the next election.  

    A senior Downing Street official set out two guiding principles behind Monday’s reorganization: “Competence, and a united team focused on what the public want.”

    For some parts of the Conservative Party, such a shift is long overdue.

    With few other options, Sunak opted to deploy a attention-grabbing reshuffle as one of the few levers he has left to pull before the next election | Pool photo by Stefan Rousseau/AFP via Getty Images

    One former Cabinet minister — granted anonymity, like others in this article, to speak frankly about the party’s fortunes — hailed the decision to bring back Cameron as “a masterstroke.” They believed it “will reassure the party and public that the Conservatives are serious about governing and winning.”

    Similarly, Cleverly’s arrival at the Home Office and the demotion of Health Secretary Steve Barclay — seen as antagonistic in dealings with striking doctors — are both designed to steady the ship. 

    “Suella [Braverman] has been a problem,” said one Conservative candidate in a seat in northern England. “Cleverly will calm down the Home Office insanity and make it look as though we’re running a semi-competent government.”

    Luke Tryl, director of the More in Common think tank, concludes the effect could be significant in more liberally-minded constituencies where Conservatives are under pressure from the Liberal Democrats, areas sometimes referred to as the Blue Wall.

    “[Those voters] will feel quite reassured to have someone like David Cameron back,” Tryl said, “but also by Cleverly, who is far more of a team player than Braverman, even though they share some of the same views.” 

    Fight on the right

    Sunak, however, risks playing into the long-held fears of conservative-minded colleagues that he is less right-wing than they had hoped.

    “There’s always been this slight contradiction with Rishi in that his vibe is liberal or centrist,” notes Henry Hill, deputy editor of the Tory grassroots website ConservativeHome. “His actual views are quite right-wing.”

    The Tory PM has tried to temper such fears by promoting Richard Holden, a punchy campaigner in a Red Wall seat, and Esther McVey, another high-profile MP from the north of England who is happy to lean into the culture wars.

    The risk for Sunak is that neither wing of his divided party — nor either half of his fragile voter coalition — will be convinced.

    A former No. 10 aide on the right of the party asked: “Do I right now have confidence that this is a party which will take a strong stance on things I care about? No.”

    One blue-collar Conservative said his views on Sunak’s reshuffle were “unprintable.”

    And a second former Cabinet minister warned that if Sunak’s electoral calculation is to shore up Blue Wall votes, it may anyway be too late. “That horse hasn’t so much bolted, as died,” they said.

    Sunak risks playing into the long-held fears of conservative-minded colleagues that he is less right-wing than they had hoped | Pool photo by Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

    One Tory strategist warned the reshuffle could see Sunak lose further vote share to the upstart Reform party on the Tories’ right flank, which is currently polling at about 8 percent.

    “If it increases then this will look like a very bad move,” they noted. “That number can flip a lot of Tory seats.”

    Rishi’s ‘spad-ocracy’ 

    The promotion of Holden — a former special adviser, or spad — and others ex-staffers like him have also drawn criticism from some of the Tory party’s older hands.

    The ex-No. 10 aide quoted above described the new-look government as a “spad-ocracy,” adding: “I can see they’re trying to get fresh faces in, but it is a bit of a slap in the face to the rest of the parliamentary party.”

    Given Monday also saw a mass exodus of experienced and respected middle-ranking office holders such as Science Minister George Freeman, some fear the PM’s “competence” narrative has already been undermined. 

    There were internal protests too over the sacking of Rachel Maclean as housing minister — a role which has now been held by 16 different people in the last 13 years.

    For its part, the opposition Labour Party was gleeful about Sunak’s decision to abandon the “change” candidate narrative he recently embarked upon by rolling back the HS2 rail project and certain net zero measures.

    “It’s a gift to us,” one Labour strategist said. “He said he was changing the consensus. [But Cameron] is the man who started the 13-year Tory consensus in the first place.” 

    Sunak must now pin his hopes on a slowly-improving economy and the ability to demonstrate competence after the chaos of Johnson and Truss, says More In Common’s Tryl.

    ”The truth is it’s a real long shot,” Tryl added. “But in a bad hand, that is the card they’ve got to play.”

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    Esther Webber and Dan Bloom

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  • David Cameron makes shock comeback as Rishi Sunak’s foreign secretary in UK reshuffle

    David Cameron makes shock comeback as Rishi Sunak’s foreign secretary in UK reshuffle

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    LONDON — Rishi Sunak appointed David Cameron as Britain’s new foreign secretary — in a shock comeback for the former prime minister.

    Cameron, who resigned as PM in 2016 and later quit as a member of parliament after losing the Brexit referendum, will become a life peer in the House of Lords in order to take on the government role.

    The move comes as Sunak carries out a major reshuffle of his government ranks, in a bid to arrest his Conservative Party’s large deficit in opinion polling.

    He kicked off the reshuffle Monday by firing Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a key figure on the party’s right. James Cleverly, previously foreign sec, takes over from Braverman at the interior ministry.

    Cameron’s return on Monday to one of the highest positions in government sent shockwaves through Westminster and the Conservative Party.

    It marks the first post-war example of a former prime minister serving in a successor’s Cabinet since the 1970s, when Conservative Alec Douglas-Home was named foreign secretary in Ted Heath’s government.

    Although both are seen as Tory centrists, Sunak and Cameron campaigned on opposite sides of the 2016 Brexit referendum. Cameron — who led a coalition government in 2010 and pulled off a dramatic election victory for the Tories in 2015 — has recently been critical of the prime minister over his decision to axe key parts of the HS2 rail link.

    The ex-PM’s reputation took a hit amid a lobbying scandal in 2021. His record on foreign policy is controversial among some Conservatives. As prime minister he heralded a so-called “Golden Era” in U.K. relations with China, and hosted President Xi Jinping for a state visit.

    Cameron: I want to help Sunak deliver

    In a statement following his appointment, Cameron said the U.K. would “stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard.”

    And he added: “Though I may have disagreed with some individual decisions, it is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is a strong and capable prime minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time.

    “I want to help him to deliver the security and prosperity our country needs and be part of the strongest possible team that serves the United Kingdom and that can be presented to the country when the general election is held.”

    But Pat McFadden of the opposition Labour Party used the new hire to take a dig at Sunak, who has recently attempted to pitch himself against successive governments of all stripes.

    “A few weeks ago, Rishi Sunak said David Cameron was part of a failed status quo, now he’s bringing him back as his life raft,” McFadden quipped.

    This developing story is being updated.

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    Andrew McDonald

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  • How Matt Clifford became Britain’s most powerful tech adviser

    How Matt Clifford became Britain’s most powerful tech adviser

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    BRUSSELS — On a warm overcast afternoon in late September, Brussels’ digerati streamed into a cramped event space, just moments from the headquarters of the European Commission, to listen to the U.K.’s man of the hour. 

    Blonde and natty in a crisp white shirt and slim-fit navy suit, Matt Clifford — the British Prime Minister’s official representative for this week’s AI Safety Summit — ambled to the lectern with the smiling ease of someone who has delivered dozens of impromptu speeches. 

    The event, invitation-only and held under the Chatham House Rule, was just one leg of Clifford’s globetrotting, which has taken him from London to Washington and Beijing. These days, as he told POLITICO, he “can sleep anytime, anywhere.”

    Clifford has been weaving across the planet to talk to top policymakers and tech barons about this week’s Bletchley Park summit, which will focus on severe risks like AI-aided cyberattacks and weapon design, and on which Rishi Sunak has pinned his hopes for a legacy. Many tech CEOs have known Clifford for years; presidents and prime ministers had better get up to speed.

    A venture capitalist, chairman of the U.K.’s moonshot factory Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), and now an AI diplomat, 37-year-old Clifford has become one of the most influential people in British tech — just as post-Brexit U.K. scrambles to become a global beacon of AI rulemaking.

    The politician’s techie

    Clifford’s rise neatly maps onto the parabola of the U.K.’s tech industry: from curio, to jewel in the crown, to geopolitical tool. His debut came in 2011, just as then Prime Minister David Cameron was hitching his wagon to London’s burgeoning startup scene – dubbed the Silicon Roundabout. 

    A McKinsey consultant with degrees from Cambridge (medieval history) and MIT (computational statistics) Clifford yearned for a change, and a colleague handed him a report McKinsey had just published on the Roundabout recommending investment in nurturing tech founders. 

    Clifford jumped at the opportunity. He had grown up in Bradford — a northern English city scarred by deindustrialization — and taught himself to code because, he said, he “didn’t want to work in [fast food chain] Gregg’s.” 

    Together with fellow consultant Alice Bentinck, he founded Entrepreneur First (EF), an accelerator that invests in graduates to help them launch startups. EF would go on to build some of the U.K.’s most successful tech unicorns. 

    It also gave the duo an in to attend the monthly breakfasts Cameron held in No. 10 with London’s tech grandees. 

    Clifford’s affability has helped him develop a network spanning from European startuppers to Silicon Valley heavy-hitters — LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, an ex-board member of OpenAI, sits on EF’s board and prefaced Bentinck’s and Clifford’s 2022 book “How to Be a Founder”. 

    “Matt is a Swiss Army knife type,” said Dom Hallas, head of British lobbying group Startup Coalition. “But he’s also just, like, a really nice guy.”

    Alice Bentnick said that Clifford uses ChatGPT to write “storybooks” for his kids | Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images

    Bentnick, his EF co-founder, said that Clifford thinks up murder mystery games for colleagues to solve, and that he uses ChatGPT to write “storybooks” for his kids. 

    During the pandemic, as the British tech industry teetered on the brink, Clifford worked with Hallas and others to convince the Treasury to launch an emergency £250 million startup fund. “Whether it’s regulation, incentives, the crisis moments of the pandemic or the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Matt has been critical for facing those challenges,” Hallas said.

    Clifford became the politician’s techie and the techie’s policy wonk. “He has cachet. He is very valued in the British tech community — which is in a way also why he’s valued by political people,” said Benedict Macon-Cooney, a chief strategist at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. But he is still a techie at heart. Clifford has taken a sabbatical from EF and plans to return after his summit work is wrapped up.

    Building a British DARPA

    After Boris Johnson triumphed in the U.K.’s 2019 general election, with tech-savvy enforcer Dominic Cummings in tow, Clifford started devoting more and more issues of his weekly newsletter, Thoughts in Between, to the subject of funding advanced science research. 

    He also launched a reading club focused on initiatives such as the Manhattan Project and the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing that managed to “achieve exceptional collective output.” That was hardly by chance: Cummings (whose blog was included in the reading group’s syllabus) had made no mystery of his grand plan to create a “British DARPA” devoted to funding ambitious science projects, and it looked like he would get his way. 

    When the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) was finally announced in 2021, Clifford would have had an easy case to make in his application for the chairmanship, to which he was appointed in July 2022: not only he had invested in technology companies for a decade, but he had written extensively about how exactly the research agency should work. [Full disclosure: Clifford also wrote about ARIA in a WIRED op-ed that I commissioned as an editor back in 2020]. 

    “Most of my policy work came out of that newsletter,” Clifford said. “It had three main topics: geopolitics of technology, AI, and science funding and accelerating – all my ARIA conversations originally came out of writing, week in week out, about it.” 

    Writing about AI in the newsletter, which was well read among both techies and policymakers, might also have bolstered Clifford’s credentials for his current unpaid work on the summit. Likely, so did the fact he is on first-name terms with many Silicon Valley technologists building advanced AI systems. In late summer 2022, some six months before OpenAI launched its most powerful model, GPT-4, Clifford was offered an early demo that left him “mind blown.” (He declined to say exactly how he got the demo).

    Clifford is enthusiastic about AI’s advantages, from better medicine to more efficient public services. But to reap those, he thinks, you first need to get the people on board — hence the summit. 

    “AI is not very popular with the public,” he said. “Therefore talking about safety is not to scare the public: it’s actually to reassure them so that we can capture the benefit.” 

    The summit’s own focus on tail risks, rather than present concerns such as AI-fuelled bias and disinformation, has sparked speculation that its agenda is inspired by effective altruism, a strand of utilitarianism popular in elite universities and Silicon Valley, some of whose adherents worry about evil, almighty AIs’ potential to kill off humankind.

    Clifford does not count himself as an effective altruist, although he seems generally sympathetic to their cause, going as far as speaking at a global effective altruism conference in June. “I have a lot of respect for a lot of [effective altruists and their] work but I’ve always been too much of a virtue ethicist to go all-in,” he said. Indeed, during his talk at the effective altruism event, he recommended that attendees read “After Virtue” by Alasdair MacIntyre — a thinker whose worldview is hardly utilitarian.

    Despite once being an “ardent remainer” and Sunak being a Brexiteer, Clifford and the PM enjoy a good rapport | Pool photo by Peter Nicholls via AFP/Getty Images

    He pushes back on the idea that the summit has been captured by the “doomer narrative” espoused by some effective altruists. “Talking of killer robots — I don’t think that’s helpful at all,” he said. “[The summit] is much more about how we avoid a misuse that turns the public so much against AI that you get a chilling effect on adoption?”

    Not a ‘political animal’

    The call from No. 10 asking Clifford to help with the summit came at the end of a long stretch of AI-related work. In late 2022, he helped conduct a government review of emerging technologies where the U.K. could have a crack at setting standards: Clifford put special emphasis on AI, which seems to have influenced Sunak’s thinking. 

    A few weeks later, in March 2023, he was appointed to help build the U.K.’s task force focused on advanced AI, or frontier models, and in May he orchestrated the meeting between Rishi Sunak and the CEOs of AI labs OpenAI, DeepMind and Anthropic, all of which are now on the summit’s invitation list. 

    Despite once being an “ardent remainer” and Sunak being a Brexiteer, Clifford and the PM enjoy a good rapport, which Hallas said first became apparent when the two were on stage together at Treasury Connect, a conference then-Chancellor Sunak organized in 2021.

    Politics rarely seems to factor into Clifford’s actions. “I’m not really a political animal,” he said. “My entire career I’ve been thinking about how to use technology as a source of leverage to make the world better.” 

    But over the past few years, and especially over the past few weeks, he has learned how to talk to politicians, and to win them over. “Politicians value that — being a successful entrepreneur, being a successful investor — I know what it takes to make technology work for people,” he said. “My starting point is: how do we get things done?”

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    Gian Volpicelli

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  • The smiling face of Chinese interests in the Indo-Pacific: David Cameron

    The smiling face of Chinese interests in the Indo-Pacific: David Cameron

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    LONDON — It is a multi-billion-dollar plan to build a metropolis in the Indo-Pacific which critics fear may one day act as a Chinese military outpost.

    Now the vast Colombo Port City project has a new champion — former British Prime Minister David Cameron.

    Cameron has been enlisted to drum up foreign investment in the controversial Sri Lankan project, which is a major part of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative — China’s global infrastructure strategy — and is billed as a Chinese-funded rival to Singapore and Dubai.

    Cameron flew to the Middle East in late September to speak at two glitzy investment events for Colombo Port City, having visited the waterside site in Sri Lanka in person earlier this year.  

    His spokesperson said the former PM had had no direct contact with either the Chinese government or the Chinese firm involved. But Cameron’s lobbying for the scheme has drawn severe backlash from critics, who say his activities will aid China in its geopolitical ambitions.

    Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, who was sanctioned by Beijing for criticizing its human rights record, said: “Cameron of all people must realize that China’s Belt and Road is not about help and support and development, it’s ultimately about gaining control — as they’ve already demonstrated in Sri Lanka.

    “I hope that he will reconsider the position he’s taken on this.”

    Tim Loughton, another Tory MP sanctioned by China, said: “The Sri Lankan project is a classic example of how China buys votes and influence in developing countries and then sends the bailiffs in when those countries can’t keep up the payments.”

    “Cameron should be working to help wean vulnerable countries off Chinese influence and debt rather than tying them in more tightly.”

    At the roadshow

    Dilum Amunugama, Sri Lanka’s investment minister who attended the investment events in the UAE last month, told POLITICO he believed Cameron was enlisted to convince Western investors to put their money into the project.

    Amunugama was at two events where Cameron spoke — one in Abu Dhabi with an audience of 100, and one in Dubai with an audience of 300.

    “The main point he [Cameron] was trying to stress is that it is not a purely Chinese project, it is a Sri Lankan-owned project — and that is the main point I think the Chinese also wanted him to iron out,” Amunugama said.

    Cameron is in charge of drumming up investment into the Chinese-funded Colombo Port City project | Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images

    The Sri Lankan minister said the decision to enlist Cameron “was taken by the Chinese company, not the government.”

    Cameron’s office said his involvement was organized by the Washington Speakers Bureau, a D.C.-based agency that books guest speakers for corporate events.

    His spokesperson said: “David Cameron spoke at two events in the UAE organized via Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB), in support of Port City Colombo, Sri Lanka.

    “The contracting party for the events was KPMG Sri Lanka and Mr Cameron’s engagement followed a meeting he had with Sri Lanka’s president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, earlier in the year.

    “Mr Cameron has not engaged in any way with China or any Chinese company about these speaking events. The Port City project is fully supported by the Sri Lankan government,” his spokesperson added.

    The spokesperson declined to say how much Cameron was paid for his time. Cameron traveled to Sri Lanka in January and visited the development, but his office said that he did so as a guest of the president and that there was no commercial aspect to that trip.

    Mired in controversy

    The Colombo Port City project has been controversial since its inception.

    It was unveiled in 2014 by China’s Xi and Sri Lanka’s then-president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Three years later, Sri Lanka handed it over to Chinese control after struggling to pay off its debt to Chinese firms.

    Multiple concerns have been raised about the project, including its environmental impact; U.S. warnings it could be used for money laundering; and fears that it will ultimately be used as a Chinese military outpost.

    Analysts have warned repeatedly that China is using the project to extend its strategic influence in the region. Beijing has already used the nearby Hambantota port — also funded by Chinese loans — to dock military vessels.

    The main developer behind the Colombo Port City Project, CHEC Port City Colombo Ltd, has pumped in an initial $1.3 billion. Its ultimate owner is the China Communications Construction Company, a majority state-owned enterprise headquartered in Beijing.

    Golden era no more

    As prime minister, Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne famously heralded a “golden era” of U.K. relations with China. Since leaving office in 2016, the ex-PM has come under heavy scrutiny over his lobbying activities, including for the now-collapsed finance company Greensill Capital.

    The ex-PM has come under scrutiny for his lobbying activities, including for the now-bankrupt company Greensill Capital | David Hecker/Getty Images

    For a period Cameron was also vice-chair of a £1 billion China-U.K. investment fund. The U.K. parliament’s intelligence and security committee said this year that Cameron’s appointment to that role could have been “in some part engineered by the Chinese state to lend credibility to Chinese investment.”

    Sam Hogg, a U.K.-China analyst who writes the “Beijing to Britain” briefing, said: “As the ISC pointed out, China has a habit of utilizing former senior-ranking politicians to give credibility to their companies and projects.

    “At a time when the Belt and Road Initiative is under intense scrutiny ahead of its 10th anniversary next week, Cameron’s involvement will raise a few eyebrows.”

    Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, added: “We can’t have a situation where the EU and U.S. are so concerned about the Belt and Road Initiative that they’re pumping billions into alternative projects, while our own former PM appears to be batting for Beijing.”

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    Eleni Courea

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  • Can Putin win?

    Can Putin win?

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    “I am wicked and scary with claws and teeth,” Vladimir Putin reportedly warned David Cameron when the then-British prime minister pressed him about the use of chemical weapons by Russia’s ally in Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and discussed how far Russia was prepared to go.

    According to Cameron’s top foreign policy adviser John Casson — cited in a BBC documentary — Putin went on to explain that to succeed in Syria, one would have to use barbaric methods, as the U.S. did in Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. “I am an ex-KGB man,” he expounded. 

    The remarks were meant, apparently, half in jest but, as ever with Russia’s leader, the menace was clear. 

    And certainly, Putin has proven he is ready to deploy fear as a weapon in his attempt to subjugate a defiant Ukraine. His troops have targeted civilians and have resorted to torture and rape. But victory has eluded him.

    In the next few weeks, he looks set to try to reverse his military failures with a late-winter offensive: very possibly by being even scarier, and fighting tooth and claw, to save Russia — and himself — from further humiliation. 

    Can the ex-KGB man succeed, however? Can Russia still win the war of Putin’s choice against Ukraine in the face of heroic and united resistance from the Ukrainians?  

    Catalog of errors

    From the start, the war was marked by misjudgments and erroneous calculations. Putin and his generals underestimated Ukrainian resistance, overrated the abilities of their own forces, and failed to foresee the scale of military and economic support Ukraine would receive from the United States and European nations.

    Kyiv didn’t fall in a matter of days — as planned by the Kremlin — and Putin’s forces in the summer and autumn were pushed back, with Ukraine reclaiming by November more than half the territory the Russians captured in the first few weeks of the invasion. Russia has now been forced into a costly and protracted conventional war, one that’s sparked rare dissent within the country’s political-military establishment and led Kremlin infighting to spill into the open. 

    The only victory Russian forces have recorded in months came in January when the Ukrainians withdrew from the salt-mining town of Soledar in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. And the signs are that the Russians are on the brink of another win with Bakhmut, just six miles southwest of Soledar, which is likely to fall into their hands shortly.

    But neither of these blood-drenched victories amounts to much more than a symbolic success despite the high casualties likely suffered by both sides. Tactically neither win is significant — and some Western officials privately say Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have been better advised to have withdrawn earlier from Soledar and from Bakhmut now, in much the same way the Russians in November beat a retreat from their militarily hopeless position at Kherson.

    For a real reversal of Russia’s military fortunes Putin will be banking in the coming weeks on his forces, replenished by mobilized reservists and conscripts, pulling off a major new offensive. Ukrainian officials expect the offensive to come in earnest sooner than spring. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov warned in press conferences in the past few days that Russia may well have as many as 500,000 troops amassed in occupied Ukraine and along the borders in reserve ready for an attack. He says it may start in earnest around this month’s first anniversary of the war on February 24.

    Other Ukrainian officials think the offensive, when it comes, will be in March — but at least before the arrival of Leopard 2 and other Western main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians Saturday that the country is entering a “time when the occupier throws more and more of its forces to break our defenses.”

    All eyes on Donbas

    The likely focus of the Russians will be on the Donbas region of the East. Andriy Chernyak, an official in Ukraine’s military intelligence, told the Kyiv Post that Putin had ordered his armed forces to capture all of Donetsk and Luhansk by the end of March. “We’ve observed that the Russian occupation forces are redeploying additional assault groups, units, weapons and military equipment to the east,” Chernyak said. “According to the military intelligence of Ukraine, Putin gave the order to seize all of the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.” 

    Other Ukrainian officials and western military analysts suspect Russia might throw some wildcards to distract and confuse. They have their eyes on a feint coming from Belarus mimicking the northern thrust last February on Kyiv and west of the capital toward Vinnytsia. But Ukrainian defense officials estimate there are only 12,000 Russian soldiers in Belarus currently, ostensibly holding joint training exercises with the Belarusian military, hardly enough to mount a diversion.

    “A repeat assault on Kyiv makes little sense,” Michael Kofman, an American expert on the Russian Armed Forces and a fellow of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank. “An operation to sever supply lines in the west, or to seize the nuclear powerplant by Rivne, may be more feasible, but this would require a much larger force than what Russia currently has deployed in Belarus,” he said in an analysis.

    But exactly where Russia’s main thrusts will come along the 600-kilometer-long front line in Ukraine’s Donbas region is still unclear. Western military analysts don’t expect Russia to mount a push along the whole snaking front — more likely launching a two or three-pronged assault focusing on some key villages and towns in southern Donetsk, on Kreminna and Lyman in Luhansk, and in the south in Zaporizhzhia, where there have been reports of increased buildup of troops and equipment across the border in Russia.

    In the Luhansk region, Russian forces have been removing residents near the Russian-held parts of the front line. And the region’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, believes the expulsions are aimed at clearing out possible Ukrainian spies and locals spotting for the Ukrainian artillery. “There is an active transfer of (Russian troops) to the region and they are definitely preparing for something on the eastern front,” Haidai told reporters.

    Reznikov has said he expects the Russian offensive will come from the east and the south simultaneously — from Zaporizhzhia in the south and in Donetsk and Luhansk. In the run-up to the main offensives, Russian forces have been testing five points along the front, according to Ukraine’s General Staff in a press briefing Tuesday. They said Russian troops have been regrouping on different parts of the front line and conducting attacks near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region and Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Novopavlivka in eastern Donetsk.

    Combined arms warfare

    Breakthroughs, however, will likely elude the Russians if they can’t correct two major failings that have dogged their military operations so far — poor logistics and a failure to coordinate infantry, armor, artillery and air support to achieve mutually complementary effects, otherwise known as combined arms warfare.

    When announcing the appointment in January of General Valery Gerasimov — the former chief of the defense staff — as the overall commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Russia’s defense ministry highlighted “the need to organize closer interaction between the types and arms of the troops,” in other words to improve combined arms warfare.

    Kofman assesses that Russia’s logistics problems may have largely been overcome. “There’s been a fair amount of reorganization in Russian logistics, and adaptation. I think the conversation on Russian logistical problems in general suffers from too much anecdotalism and received wisdom,” he said.

    Failing that, much will depend for Russia on how much Gerasimov has managed to train his replenished forces in combined arms warfare and on that there are huge doubts he had enough time. Kofman believes Ukrainian forces “would be better served absorbing the Russian attack and exhausting the Russian offensive potential, then taking the initiative later this spring. Having expended ammunition, better troops, and equipment it could leave Russian defense overall weaker.” He suspects the offensive “may prove underwhelming.”

    Pro-war Russian military bloggers agree. They have been clamoring for another mobilization, saying it will be necessary to power the breakouts needed to reverse Russia’s military fortunes. Former Russian intelligence officer and paramilitary commander Igor Girkin, who played a key role in Crimea’s annexation and later in the Donbas, has argued waves of call-ups will be needed to overcome Ukraine’s defenses by sheer numbers.

    And Western military analysts suspect that Ukraine and Russia are currently fielding about the same number of combat soldiers. This means General Gerasimov will need many more if he’s to achieve the three-to-one ratio military doctrines suggest necessary for an attacking force to succeed. 

    Ukrainian officials think Russia’s offensive will be in March, before the arrival of Leopard 2 and other Western tanks | Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images

    But others fear that Russia has sufficient forces, if they are concentrated, to make some “shock gains.” Richard Kemp, a former British army infantry commander, is predicting “significant Russian gains in the coming weeks. We need to be realistic about how bad things could be — otherwise the shock risks dislodging Western resolve,” he wrote. The fear being that if the Russians can make significant territorial gains in the Donbas, then it is more likely pressure from some Western allies will grow for negotiations.

    But Gerasimov’s manpower deficiencies have prompted other analysts to say that if Western resolve holds, Putin’s own caution will hamper Russia’s chances to win the war. 

    “Putin’s hesitant wartime decision-making demonstrates his desire to avoid risky decisions that could threaten his rule or international escalation — despite the fact his maximalist and unrealistic objective, the full conquest of Ukraine, likely requires the assumption of further risk to have any hope of success,” said the Institute for the Study of War in an analysis this week. 

    Wicked and scary Putin may be but, as far as ISW sees it, he “has remained reluctant to order the difficult changes to the Russian military and society that are likely necessary to salvage his war.”

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    Jamie Dettmer

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