Europe needs to get Ukraine and Gaza into ‘best possible place’ before US election, Cameron warns
Europe must do as much as it can to quell hostilities in Gaza and Ukraine before the US decides on its next president, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said.
Lord Cameron called on Nato allies to bolster their efforts to prove to any future president that Europe would be “working in partnership” on defence.
Lord Cameron said: “What we should do in the next eight months is make sure that whichever dossier we’re talking about, whether we move towards a peace process in the Middle East or whether it’s this vital fight for Ukraine [against] Russian aggression, we want to get these things in the best possible place by the time of the US election.
“So whoever is the victor in that contest can see that… we’re working in partnership [and] have moved those onto the best possible plane they can be.”
But fears Donald Trump may make a return to the White House have prompted the foreign secretary to speak out before – Lord Cameron has claimed Trump would not take a “sensible approach” to the defence of Europe.
Trump himself said he once told a fellow Nato leader that the US would not protect an ally not meeting the bloc’s defence spending commitments.
He said he told the unnamed leader: “You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?… No, I would not protect you – in fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay.”
Lord Cameron’s address at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday followed a wobble in UK-German relations over a Russian spy leaking German military officials’ discussions of Nato weapons donations to Ukraine.
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The leak exposed Luftwaffe head Ingo Gerhartz saying Britain had “a few people on the ground” involved in missile deliveries to Ukrainian troops.
But Lord Cameron talked down the leak’s impact, stressing the UK and Germany were “united”.
He also dismissed Russian claims of Nato escalation, saying weapons provision was purely defensive – “as long as we’re not in a situation where a Nato soldier is killing a Russian soldier”.
The foreign secretary said: “I think the history of this is very clear: at every stage, it’s been said if you give anti-tank weapons to the Ukrainians that’s escalation – no it wasn’t. If you give tanks to the Ukrainians that’s escalation – no it wasn’t. If you give long-range artillery or long-range fire to the Ukrainians it’s escalation – no it isn’t.”
He continuned: “And I think the reason for that is clear. If what you are doing is helping a country defend itself from an illegal and completely unjustified aggression, then there should be nothing to stop you helping that country to fight back to recover its territory.”
Cameron’s German counterpart Annalena Baerbock said Ukrainian allies should do everything necessary to help it defend itself against Russia.
Baerbock said: “You cannot make peace with someone holding a gun to your head.
“Those of us who want peace and to put an end to this war have to do whatever he or she can to provide Ukraine with the means to defend itself.”