Liz Truss speaks of ‘changing mindset’ at Foreign Office over Israel
Speaking at a CFI Leadership Hustings event Truss said "sometimes officials are not always giving advice that is necessarily in line with what we believe".
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Liz Truss has claimed she has succeeded in “changing the mindset” of officials at the Foreign Office over attitudes to Israel, and with our dealings with the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Speaking at a Conservative Friends of Israel Leadership Hustings on Monday evening, Truss issued stinging criticism of the “bureaucracy” she had encountered.
She said: “I think I’ve demonstrated at the Foreign Office I am prepared to take on the orthodoxy .. that sometimes officials are not always giving advice that is necessarily in line with what we believe.”
Truss said she believed the UK’s security relationship with Israel “needs to be deeper.” She continued: “We need to do more and I very much pushed that at the Foreign Office.
“That is what the strategic partnership I signed with Yair Lapid was all about, and this is about following through.
“And part of it has been about changing the mindset of bureaucracy on what we’re prepared to do, and the extent to which we’re prepared to cooperate.
“But I’ve been very clear. I see Israel as an absolutely key ally of the United Kingdom, in both defence and security, but also science and technology…”
The favourite to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister then turned her attention to the Human Rights Council.
She said that on the body there “are too many countries who tried to do Israel down, who try and use the Human Rights Council as a way of levelling, unwarranted criticism at Israel.”
Truss added:”What I’ve done is I’ve stood up against those countries.
“I’ve occasionally stood up against advice from my own departments, and various claims of Britain would be isolated, and in fact, other countries followed us in what we did.”
The CFI event, which will be repeated next Monday with an appearance by former chancellor Rishi Sunak, was hosted by the orgainsation’s honorary president Lord Polak at a central London venue.
Truss spoke for around 10 minutes, outlining once again her belief in tax cuts to stimulate the economy and avoid recession.
She praised Israel as a “key ally” and a “beacon of freedom and democracy” in the Middle East.
She was then questioned for over half an hour.
Asked by Lord Polak if she would proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps if she became PM, a pledge made by Sunak last week, Truss said:”I’m not going to invent new foreign policy on the spot, but I can assure you that we cannot allow Iran to succeed in their nuclear ambitions and I’m willing to do what it takes to stop that happening.”
It was also noticeable that Truss did not mention the pledge made in her letter to CFI, released last week, in which she said she would conduct a “review” into moving the British Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
In further comments made to Lord Polak, Truss promised to retain the government’s £14million annual spending commitment to the Community Security Trust, for protection of Jewish schools and synagogues.
She added:”It’s extremely sad that this funding is needed, that people are under threat, but I would certainly make sure we continue the funding and do all we can to stamp out antisemitism here in Britain.
“You know, we know the history of the Labour Party and the appalling the appalling things that went on, particularly under Jeremy Corbyn, its leadership and regrettably, those elements are still there in British society, and we have seen these incidents taking place.
“I was horrified by what happened to the Israeli ambassador outside of the London School of Economics, that was absolutely appalling, and should not be happening in a society like ours. So I’m afraid we do need to continue to spend that money until we start out the scourge.”
Truss took further questions from the audience, before mingling with attendees and posing for photographs.
Amongst those to attend the event were Lord Pickles, who was given a reassurance that Truss would continue to back the Westminster Holocaust Memorial project if she became PM, former CFI chair Andrew Heller and deputy Hilda Worth.
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