Middle East

Chris Coghlan Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. The statement will conclude at 8 pm because we also have a statement on Ukraine. Colleagues will need to be as fast as they can.

[Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)]

In hearing from the Foreign Secretary that 132,000 children are at risk of dying from hunger, one can only feel utter revulsion. I recognise what the Government have done, but in their public diplomacy with President Trump, their strategy appears to be to pander to him. Again, I understand why the Government have chosen to do that, but how concerned is the Foreign Secretary that their legacy in the middle east will be the same as that of the previous Labour Government: to be a poodle to an out-of-control American President amid horror?

[Mr Lammy]

I remind the hon. Gentleman that it was me and this Labour Government who signed a memorandum of understanding of support with the Palestinian Authority just a few months ago. We use every lever that we can diplomatically to be in dialogue with our partners and to seek to influence them. This is a complex set of issues. There are different approaches internationally, and he will have witnessed that, but we use every sinew diplomatically, and that is what the Prime Minister and I do every day.