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  • PRESS RELEASE : The UK fully supports the UN’s decision to pause humanitarian operations in Saada – UK statement at the UN Security Council [March 2025]

    PRESS RELEASE : The UK fully supports the UN’s decision to pause humanitarian operations in Saada – UK statement at the UN Security Council [March 2025]

    The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 6 March 2025.

    Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Yemen.

    First, the UK welcomes the Council’s strong and united condemnation of the ongoing detentions by the Houthis and the tragic death of a World Food Programme member of staff in Houthi captivity.

    Continued Council unity sends a clear and unequivocal message to the Houthis that they must unconditionally and immediately release those detained.

    We fully support the UN’s decision to pause humanitarian operations in Saada.

    This pause is a direct consequence of the Houthi threat undermining the security and safety of aid workers.

    Miss Ali and this morning’s press stakeout have again highlighted how this already dire humanitarian situation is exacerbated by climate change, intensifying existing issues such as water and food security.

    Second, the Yemen Coast Guard’s announcement of their interdiction of a dhow containing advanced weapon components, reportedly destined for Hodeida port, is more evidence of a  clear violation of the arms embargo contained in UNSC Resolution 2216.

    We reiterate our call for all UN Member States to ensure full compliance with the arms embargo. In particular, we call for the Iranian Government to cease its destabilising activity in the region.

    UNVIM remains critical to preventing the smuggling of illicit arms.

    The UK calls on the international community to provide unwavering support to UNVIM and to ensure it has the funding necessary to fulfil its obligations.

    We also continue to support Yemen’s Coast Guard as it looks to strengthen its capacities to protect Yemen’s maritime borders.

    In partnership with the Government of Yemen, and international partners, we look forward to the launch of the Yemen Maritime Security Partnership later this year.

    Finally, President, the UK remains committed to achieving lasting peace in Yemen and the broader region.

    Ultimately, long-term stability and security in Yemen can only be achieved through a UN-led inclusive political settlement.

    We will continue to give our full support of Special Envoy Grundberg in this effort.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Nuclear safeguards – AUKUS statement to the IAEA Board of Governors [March 2025]

    PRESS RELEASE : Nuclear safeguards – AUKUS statement to the IAEA Board of Governors [March 2025]

    The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 6 March 2025.

    UK Ambassador Corinne Kitsell’s statement on behalf of Australia, the UK and the US to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting on IAEA safeguards and AUKUS.

    Chair,

    I take the floor on behalf of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to respond to disinformation about Australia’s acquisition of a naval nuclear propulsion capability through the AUKUS partnership. We are once again compelled to invoke our Right of Reply to address remarks that purposefully mischaracterise AUKUS and attempt to undermine the independence, integrity, and authority of the IAEA.

    I reiterate that this item has not been adopted as a standing agenda item by this Board and has never enjoyed consensus support, despite one member state’s introduction every Board. This repeated attempt to add an agenda item distracts from other pressing concerns requiring the Board’s attention and falsely implies an active compliance problem where none exists. AUKUS partners will provide an update on Australia’s acquisition of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines under ‘Any Other Business’, consistent with our practice of providing updates to every regular meeting of the Board since 2021.

    Director General Grossi has repeatedly expressed his satisfaction with AUKUS partners’ engagement and transparency and has upheld his commitment to update the Board on naval nuclear propulsion, including through his report published last November. Ever since the initial announcement of the partnership, the AUKUS partners have continued to engage consistently, openly, and transparently with Member States and the Secretariat on genuine questions.

    Chair,

    Under this item, the Board has repeatedly heard unsubstantiated claims that ignore or misrepresent the information we have provided in good faith, and assertions that disregard the statements made by the Director General. I would like to remind the Board that:

    With regards to an intergovernmental dialogue, the IAEA has the clear authority under its Statute, and extensive precedent, to negotiate directly and in-confidence with individual Member States on the establishment and application of safeguards and verification arrangements. Interference would politicise the IAEA’s independence, its mandate and technical authority, and establish a deeply harmful precedent.

    I also want to underline that the transfer of high enriched uranium from a nuclear-weapon State to a non-nuclear-weapon State does not run counter to the NPT or its spirit. The transfer of nuclear material at any enrichment level among States Parties is not prohibited by the NPT, provided the transfer is carried out in a manner consistent with any relevant safeguards obligations. Australia’s conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine program will be subject to a robust package of verification measures, consistent with its longstanding non-proliferation obligations.

    Naval nuclear propulsion was indeed foreseen by the drafters of the NPT. Article 14 of the IAEA’s model Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement – on which Australia’s CSA is based – is the specific provision to support the right of states to use nuclear material in a non-proscribed military activity, including for naval nuclear propulsion, within the legal framework for safeguards implementation.

    As we have regularly stated, under Australia’s Article 14 arrangement, the IAEA will maintain oversight of nuclear material and meet its technical safeguards objectives throughout the submarines’ lifecycle. Once the Article 14 arrangement is agreed between Australia and the IAEA Secretariat, the Director General will transmit it to the Board for ‘appropriate action’. To suggest that the Board will somehow be bypassed is false.

    With regards to the AUKUS Naval Nuclear Propulsion Agreement, I want to underline that it reaffirms, and is consistent with, the parties’ existing non-proliferation obligations, including under the NPT. The Agreement obliges the UK and US to ensure that Australia can provide the IAEA with other information and access necessary to fulfil Australia’s obligations under its safeguards agreements with the IAEA and the future Article 14 arrangement.

    Chair,

    Our three countries – along with the majority of the Board – continue to oppose any proposal for this item to be a standing agenda item or any efforts that undermine and politicise the technical mandate of the IAEA. We appreciate that colleagues continue to reject deliberate attempts to undermine the Agency’s independence and integrity.

    We will continue to engage in good faith with Member States on genuine questions. Consistent with our approach to maintaining open and transparent engagement, we will provide an update to the Board under ‘Any Other Business’ and welcome the Director General’s continued commitment to provide updates on naval nuclear propulsion, as and when he deems appropriate.

    Thank you, Chair.

  • Maria Eagle – 2025 Procurement and Industry RUSI Speech

    Maria Eagle – 2025 Procurement and Industry RUSI Speech

    The speech made by Maria Eagle, the Minister for Defence Procurement, made in London on 5 March 2025.

    Esteemed colleagues. Distinguished Guests. Chers amis.

    I’m sure I speak for us all in thanking RUSI and IFRI for bringing us together at this pivotal moment for European security. And for all they do to advance Defence in our countries. As Putin continues to wage his unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine amidst fierce debate about how best to end the conflict the common refrain coming from both sides of the Channel and both sides of the Atlantic is that Europe needs to step-up and take more responsibility for its own security. As our Prime Minister did again last week, by setting a path that will lift our defence spending from 2.3%,  to 2.5% by 2027,  and 3% in the next parliament.

    Amidst the uncertainty surrounding European security the one thing that is certain and that’s a fighting force is only as strong as the industrial base that stands behind it. So transforming European defence industrial capabilities and boosting capacity are going to be integral to this defining mission of our time. And I hope we all leave here today agreeing that as Europe’s most powerful military forces with two of its most advanced defence sectors the UK and France must spearhead this mission. Strengthening an alliance that has achieved so much since we struck the Entente Cordiale back in 1904.

    A military alliance that’s twice been pivotal in securing European freedoms. And an industrial alliance that has connected our electricity grids…

    shrunk our skies and tunnelled under the channel. Making it possible to enjoy a late morning croissant in Paris followed almost seamlessly, by mid-afternoon tea in London and more easily done than getting back to my constituency in Liverpool and faster most of the time.

    For the last fifteen years the Lancaster House Treaties have been our guiding light as our Armed Forces and our nations have again stood united in support of democracy and against the common threats of terrorism, tyranny, and hybrid warfare both in Europe and further afield.  And as we gather today to discuss the next chapter of our Defence industrial partnership I believe that the overwhelming majority of not just British and French people but the vast majority of Europeans are looking to our respective governments to provide leadership by doing more together in recognition that our combined military capabilities are the most significant stabilising force in European security.

    And as we step forward to help Europe step-up to the challenge we will be building on solid foundations. Our combined nuclear deterrents underpin Europe’s security. Our Combined Joint Expeditionary Force is on stand-by to respond swiftly to crises giving us a level of interoperability with the French Armed Forces, beyond anything we have with any other European allies. And our Industrial sector is also increasingly integrated.

    Through ‘One MBDA’ we’ve help safeguard European missile production capabilities and delivered innovative defensive and offensive systems…

    including Meteor and SCALP/Storm Shadow. Together we are co-developing powerful Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapons a sovereign capability that boosts our industrial resilience and will deliver the most advanced deep-strike weapons in Europe. And as part of our Maritime Mine Counter-Measures Project with Thales the UK will soon take delivery of our first set of autonomous mine hunting equipment marking an important new phase in that particular programme.

    But if we are to re-establish security across the European continent and dissuade Putin from coming back again to invade one of his sovereign neighbours we need to use our Summit in June to broaden our defence industrial collaboration beyond complex weapons. Putting something of an ‘Entente Industrielle’ at the heart to the UK-France Defence partnership that delivers more from our existing programmes that intensifies our cooperation in the most decisive domains and capabilities – including space, AI, and defeating hybrid grey-zone warfare and provides leadership to European Partners, including within NATO.

    For both our countries the need to significantly strengthen European deterrence represents a significant economic opportunity.

    And it can be a virtuous circle of enhanced capabilities, stronger deterrence, and economic growth that I believe can be mutually beneficial as we expand the range of our cooperation supporting a growing number of Defence jobs in both France and the UK.

    Last week marked the end of our public consultation on the UK’s forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy I am glad to say because I was visiting every corner of the UK speaking to people about it, so I get a little bit of rest from travel. But that strategy will guide our approach to the sector.

    It is a strategy that will set out our wish to create new research and industrial ventures with international allies like France in order to broaden our capabilities, enhance standardisation, and boost interoperability whilst supporting our respective strengths across the defence value chain.

    We know the EU has a role to play in building a larger, more innovative, and more responsive European defence sector. And we would welcome French support as we seek an ambitious new UK-EU security pact. Continued coordination through NATO is also crucially important,

    in setting capability targets and standards, and making our collective defence industrial bases more coherent. We also know, a more resilient and responsive industrial base, requires a fundamentally closer relationship between governments and industry, hence adding that “industry” to the end of my title. I am not just in charge with procurement I am in charge of our relationship with defence industries as well. And we are recruiting a National Armaments Director, who will be held accountable for delivering that, alongside procurement reform.

    At the last UK-France Summit, our countries signed up to a closer industrial relationship. We agreed to strengthen supply chains and industrial resilience and facilitate reciprocal market access and exports. I think that recent geopolitical developments, have injected urgency into that work…

    and the need to strengthen European and NATO industrial and procurement initiatives is also apparent and that includes: the European Long-Range Strike Approach the DIAMOND integrated air and missile defence initiative and NATO’s Defence Production Action Plan and Multinational Procurement initiatives. Collective procurement will deliver more of the capabilities we need across the continent to deter Putin…

    and deliver more bang for our Pounds and Euros.

    Whilst UK and French visions for Europe’s security architecture haven’t always aligned during the Entente Cordiale era, UK and French values and interests overwhelmingly have and it is vital for European Security that we talk, and build on that unity.

    Our cooperation has long been a powerful force-for-good that has brought our people closer together and helped overcome tyranny and preserve freedoms. And we can do it again.

    So I will work closely with my counterpart Délégué Emmanuel Chiva…who I am going to be seeing tomorrow at the High-Level UK-France Working Group to put our defence capabilities and industrial cooperation at the top of the agenda of our Summit in June at the heart of our Lancaster House Treaties refresh and at the centre of our shared mission to bolster European security

    Because like our predecessors who built the Entente Cordiale to secure peace in their time we must now build an Entente Industrielle to guarantee European security in ours.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 16 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 16 February 1925

    16 FEBRUARY 1925

    There is fresh talk of a security pact which, beginning with the inclusion of France and Britain and the States on Germany’s frontiers, might be extended to include the Reich itself under pledge of non-aggression and in receipt of a guarantee for the protection of her eastern frontier.

    In the House of Commons today there will be a debate on the Government’s policy in regard to the safeguarding of industries.

    David Lloyd George, addressing a meeting of the Welsh National Liberal Federation at Newport, Mon., advocated the value of the roll of honour, to which, he said, there was the same glory in giving the mite as in giving a thousand pounds.

    Mrs Philip Snowden, on her return from Canada, repeated her conviction that the late Government were the victims of the worst political leadership of modern times. She also criticised the Clyde group of Socialists, in reference to the attack on the vote for the Prince of Wales’s tour.

    Me A. J. COOK, general secretary of the Miners’ Federation, speaking at Llanelly, made a violent attack on Mr Frank Hodges.

    In the Walsall by-election the three candidates are prepared for great activity in the campaign proper, which begins this week. The Unionist candidate, Mr Preston, has much improved in health.

    In the King’s replies to the addresses of Convocation mention is made of the housing problem and the necessity of increasing existing building resources.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 15 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 15 February 1925

    15 FEBRUARY 1925

    It was announced that between the years 1921 and 1923 that at least 590 children had been killed in the streets of Greater London.

    It was announced that the Dowager Marchioness of Tweedale had died in London.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 14 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 14 February 1925

    14 FEBRUARY 1925

    Sir Kingsley Wood, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, speaking in the House of Commons on the experiments in steel houses, said that in every contract for these houses there would be a fair wages clause inserted.

    French comments on Mr Chamberlain’s statement regarding a security pact express the hope that Britain will be conscious of the realities of the hour. France, it is stated, will not refuse to consider any agreement which offers a guarantee of security.

    The Speech from the Throne at the opening of the South African Parliament foreshadowed a heavy legislative programme, including Bills providing for a measure of self-government for South-West Africa, and dealing with South African nationality, electoral reform, and emergency powers Bills, wages regulation Bills, and measures for the control of the diamond trade and the uniform and direct taxation of natives.

    The Second Opium Conference discussed and sustained the article of the draft convention which provides that any contracting party may authorise the supply to the public by chemists in urgent cases of tincture of opium, laudanum, and Dover powder.

    Viscount Cecil of Chelwood spoke at Bournemouth on the evils of the opium habit, and gave details of the machinery devised at the Geneva Conference to watch and regulate the operation of the factories in which opium and other drugs were manufactured.

    Mr Amery, speaking at Birmingham, said the Government appreciated that the nation expected attention to education, health, and every branch of social reform.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 13 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 13 February 1925

    13 FEBRUARY 1925

    The Prince of Wales, who will visit Southern Rhodesia in the summer, is due to arrive at Bulawayo on June 29, and concludes the tour on July 11 at Victoria Falls.

    The mission of the Prince of Wales to South Africa and South America was strongly criticised by Scottish Socialist members in the House of Commons, on a vote of £2000 for the purposes of the tour. Mr Kirkwood, who was repeatedly interrupted and called to order, argued that the Prince would be better to make himself acquainted with working-class conditions in this country before undertaking that voyage. The vote was carried by a large majority.

    Mr Wheatley, speaking in the House of Commons on housing experiments, said that in three months the Government had dissipated the good spirit prevailing in the building industry when the late Government left office. There was now a spirit of suspicion. Mr Neville Chamberlain, in reply, said he wanted to provide houses, and he was astonished at the persistent obstruction that came from the Labour party. He regarded the Weir houses as an emergency measure, and did not believe they would prejudice the building trade.

    The Foreign Secretary, Mr Austen Chamberlain, asked in the House of Commons whether the Government were considering a new pact of alliance and security with France, said no negotiations for a separate pact with any country had been entered upon by the Government.

    Dr Macnamara, opening his campaign as Liberal candidate in the Walsall by-election, said his party had suffered at the General Election for taking the right course. In its panic the country overdid it, and was now ripe for a great revival of Liberalism.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 12 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 12 February 1925

    12 FEBRUARY 1925

    The Earl of Onslow, replying to a question in the House of Lords regarding the proposed transfer of Swaziland and Bechnanaland to the Union of South Africa, said the Union Government did not intend to ask for the transfer of either territory at present.

    The House of Commons adopted a resolution approving the possession by the Home Secretary of full authority to control alien immigration, and deprecating any weakening of the existing regulations, in view of the present shortage of work and of houses in this country.

    Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Secretary for War, addressing the Council of County Territorial Associations, said the Territorial Army would be the sole means of expansion of the Army in time of war, and the Army Council were now considering the preparation of a scheme to be put into operation whenever the need for expansion took place.

    Lord Sands, presiding in London at the annual meeting of the Carnegie Trust, reviewed the work of the past year.

    Sir Richard Lodge has given to a Scotsman representative his impressions of American University methods and ideals, on his return from a visit to the United States and Canada.

    Two new Royal Scottish Academicians, Mr George Houston and Mr Robert Hope, were elected at an Assembly of the Academy.

    Abdel Fattah Amayat, a student of the Royal School of Law at Cairo, who with his brother Abdel Hamid, a student teacher, was arrested on the train going from Alexandria to Hamman on January 31, has admitted that he took part in the attack upon the late Sirdar on November 19, and has given the names of the other persons connected with the assassination, including his own brother.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 11 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 11 February 1925

    11 FEBRUARY 1925

    In the House of Lords, Marquis Curzon, replying to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked for information regarding the expulsion of the Ecumenical Patriarch from Constantinople, stated that in the opinion of His Majesty’s Government the dispute was one that ought to be settled by discussion and agreement between the two Governments concerned. They would use all their influence towards securing a peaceful solution by conciliation.

    The second reading of the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Bill, which was moved in the House of Commons by the Secretary for Scotland, was agreed to. A motion for rejection, moved by the Rev. James Barr, was defeated by 252 votes to 110. Sir John Gilmour said the Bill would open the way for the Union which was desired by both Churches, and, he believed, by the vast majority of the Scottish people.

    At question time in the House of Commons the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries announced that he proposed to appoint a Departmental Committee to inquire into the conditions under which horses are exported to the Continent.

    The Prime Minister, Mr Stanley Baldwin, has intimated to the Town Council of Dundee his willingness to accept the freedom of Dundee.

    The German Chancellor, at Cologne, declared that the German Government was ready to negotiate with the Allies regarding the evacuation of the Cologne zone and promptly to remove all legitimate doubts on their part in respect of disarmament. Berlin would, however, refuse to let evacuation be made dependent on a settlement of the question of security.

    Two persons were killed and nearly a hundred injured in a Communist-Roman Catholic riot at Marseilles. A well-known local priest was assaulted and badly beaten on leaving the Catholic League Conference.

  • NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 10 February 1925

    NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 10 February 1925

    10 FEBRUARY 1925

    Parliament resumes to-day. In the House of Lords the Archbishop of Canterbury is to put a question regarding the expulsion of the Ecumenical Patriarch. In the House of Commons the second reading stage of the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Bill will be taken.

    Mr Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, speaking at Plymouth with reference to the housing problem, said that he was sorry to see that already some people, whose motives, he feared, were not above suspicion, were taking upon themselves to crab the demonstration houses, which some of them certainly had not yet even seen.

    Steel-sheeted houses are strongly criticised by a technical committee appointed by the National Housing and Town Planning Council.

    Mr Lloyd George, in receiving the freedom of Hull, spoke on the part the politician played in the Great War.

    Mr A. J. Cook, Secretary of the Miners’ Federation, in an interview regarding Mr Hodges’s proposals for solving the problems in the mining industry, said nationalisation would be more likely to appeal to the coal owners than unification.