Speeches by Cooper.

“I recognise that; I am just explaining that in the autumn we were seeking to try to leverage a diplomatic process that, at least in Gaza, did seem to be delivering some pressure and some progress. We also raised a series of concerns through the Christmas recess and into the new year about what was happening in terms of…”

“Only a small number of other countries have done this, and they have faced significant limitations. What we are trying to do at the moment is learn from those limitations and see how much further we can go. In terms of the options we are looking at, we are looking at going further than other countries. We have also con…”

“There have been rumours about different timescales. We are currently anticipating that it is possible that they will do so during August.”

“The reality is that I do not have a timescale at the moment. I want any action to be as rapid as possible. There are some things that you might be able to do more quickly than others, but they may not provide a full answer, and that is what we are looking at at the moment.”

“Exactly, and that is why we want to be able to give a clear warning at that point about what our intention is—so that even if the regimes are not fully in place, we want to be able to say to businesses that they should not be contracting with the E1 settlements.”

“Yes, I do. I can tell you that Alistair Burt is appointed as the UK’s first ever envoy for complex consular cases. His focus will be on the most difficult and complex detention cases involving British people overseas, including those where there are human rights concerns. Many of you will know Alistair as somebody who …”

“I can provide you with further details or get Hamish to provide you with further details. I know you have raised it with him.”

“There is really serious concern about human rights abuses. This is a very distressing case, because we know this is someone who has been a doctor providing medical healthcare for people as well. It has been raised internationally. Ultimately, it is the Israeli Government who need to be accountable for the decisions tha…”

“We have had some of those discussions and I am sure that those discussions will continue.”

“I am going to defer to Nick on this because some aspects of the scale and nature of our diplomatic presence raise a range of issues. We are very conscious of this as a priority area in terms of our relationship with the Syrian Government. It is something that Minister Falconer has been looking at a lot. We are currentl…”

“None of those areas were raised with me as an issue by any of our allies. Again, I think that the detailed decisions in terms of priorities are a matter for the Defence Secretary. What I would say is that the UK has particular specialist capabilities, and therefore it is right that there will be particular roles that i…”

“I’m going to defer to the Defence Secretary on the nature of our defence co-operation on space.”

“No, that has not been the focus of discussions at the moment. There is more focus on the Ukraine and the EU in those terms.”

“Some of the alliances—the more agile ones—we have are our core alliances, particularly around NATO and our close partnerships. For example, we work particularly with France and Germany and the E3, but more widely there is our European co-operation as well. We are obviously a member of the P5 and Five Eyes—structures th…”

“Stephen Doughty has just done a very intensive period of diplomatic engagement in the western Balkans. We have also had Karen Pierce as our envoy there. In terms of our expertise and capability, we maintain a very strong focus on the western Balkans. The other thing we are trying to do is make this more thematic across…”

“We have been looking at a range of options for G20 priorities next year, including looking at reforming finance to make it easier to mobilise, whether through the World Bank or other forms of development bank, finance and so on. We have definitely been looking at some of those finance reforms. Another area that I have …”

“You will not be surprised to learn that I disagree with you on a whole series of those issues. Obviously, though, we continue to agree on the importance of the support for Ukraine, which is fundamental to our security. However, if you look at the different roles that we are playing in each of those areas, on security o…”

“Your figures are not right. This has been a long, ongoing discussion. Let us go back to what the issues are with the Chagos Islands. The important issue is that we can—”

“We have not set out any proposals for that. The issue is not yet resolved and those discussions are continuing.”

“I have had a brief conversation with Andy Burnham about Europe and our relationship with Europe, but I have not had a detailed discussion with him about the reset, because obviously we know that the summit is delayed until the autumn. That will be for him to set out. I know, for example, that he has written an article …”