UK avoids signing up to Board of Peace amid concerns over Russia
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said there were concerns about potential Russian involvement.
Britain will not yet sign up to Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” amid concerns about potential Russian involvement in the plan, the Foreign Secretary has said.
Yvette Cooper said the UK would discuss with allies the “different supportive role” it could play in the Gaza peace process as she faced questions about the prospect of joining the group.
The senior minister said Britain strongly backs the US president’s wider 20-point plan for peace in the Middle East as he sought to spotlight the board at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
But asked whether the UK would join the Board of Peace, the UK’s top diplomat told BBC Breakfast: “There’s a huge amount of work to do.
“We won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues.
“And 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.
“And to be honest, that is also what we should be talking about.”
She confirmed that the UK had been invited to join the board, adding: “We will have continuing international discussions including with our allies, including on how we work with this and how we work with the peace process for Gaza going forward, and the different supportive role that the UK can play.”
The board was initially expected to be a small group of figures overseeing the ceasefire in the Middle East, but appears to have evolved into something more wide-reaching.
Some 35 countries had agreed to sign on to the project, a senior official speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House has told reporters, and 60 nations had been invited to join.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was still consulting with its “strategic partners” before deciding whether to commit to the plan.
Mr Putin was not present at a ceremony held on Thursday morning in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders signed up to the board.
US President Mr Trump was joined by his Argentinian counterpart Javier Milei and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, among others at the event.
Diplomatic relations between Washington and European nations have come under strain in recent days following the American leader’s threats to slap tariffs on countries opposed to his ambitions to annex Greenland.
But Mr Trump appeared to offer a reprieve on Wednesday evening, saying he would not impose the measures that had been planned for February 1 after a meeting with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.
The pair met on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the US president said they “formed the framework of a future deal” for security in the Arctic region.
Speaking at the event on Thursday, the American leader suggested the board could grow to have a greater mission than just brokering peace in Gaza, and criticised the United Nations for a lack of action to end wars across the world.
He told the audience at the ceremony: “I think we can spread out to other things as we succeed with Gaza.
“We’re going to be very successful in Gaza. It’s going to be a great thing to watch.
“And we can do other things. We can do numerous other things. Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do, and we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations.”
Mr Trump added: “I’ve always said the United Nations has got tremendous potential, has not used it, but there’s tremendous potential in the United Nations, and you have some great people at the United Nations, but so far, it hasn’t.”
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, described the signatories at the ceremony as a “group of leaders that are about action”.
