Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the UK will turn down its invitation to join Donald Trump’s planned ‘Board of Peace’.
The US President announced the panel as part of his plan to end the brutal war in Gaza – but its broad founding charter has led some to speculate he wants to turn it into a rival to the United Nations.
And it later emerged that Russian warmonger Vladimir Putin and Belarussian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko were invited to join.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning, Cooper confirmed the government would not accept Trump’s invitation when he pushes the proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos today.
She said: ‘We won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues.
‘We do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine.
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‘And to be honest, that is also what we should be talking about.’
However, the Foreign Secretary said the UK remains strongly committed to Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in the Middle East.
Her announcement comes after French President Emmanuel Macron also confirmed his country would decline the invitation.
Meanwhile, Putin has said Moscow would continue to consult with its ‘strategic partners’ before coming to a decision on whether to take a seat on the board.
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