Number 10 says Sir Keir has “no plans” to meet the Taliban at the COP29 Conference in Baku, which kicks off today. Speaking in the daily Lobby briefing this afternoon, the spokesperson said the Taliban’s invitation to the summit was “a matter for the organisers.” Presumably the UN thinks they may provide some valuable contributions on the matter of climate change. You’d think the Prime Minister would at least raise some concerns…
The spokesperson added:
“I think attendance is a matter for the organisers, but more broadly the summit I think is bringing together 96 different delegations from across the world and the objective is obviously to strengthen global climate action and engagement on that issue…
It is obviously vital that we approach the talks and the event with that common purpose [at the] forefront of our mind.”
Hosts Azerbaijan claim the Taliban will “potentially participate in periphery discussion and potentially hold bilateral meetings,” according to The Independent. Don’t worry about them, they’re just here for a few peripheral meetings…
Speaking to Adam Boulton on Times Radio about kicking the Golders Green suspect, Heidi Alexander said:
“I thought that if I was in the shoes of that police officer, then if I’m honest, given the situation, and the fact that he had a backpack on his back, and they were worried about whether that might go off, I could, if I was a police officer, frankly, I could see myself having taken similar action.”