The foreign secretary has said the UK and allies will not be “bullied by Putin’s shameless grandstanding” as the prime minister faces pressure to allow Ukraine to fire British long-range missiles into Russia.
David Lammy told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips the Russian president’s threats to use nuclear weapons if the West sends more weapons to Kyiv are “totally unacceptable”.
The government is facing increasing pressure from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow troops to fire long-range missiles into Russia, however no decision was made following talks between Sir Keir Starmer and Joe Biden in Washington this week.
Mr Lammy said he could not discuss the details of why a decision has not been made but added: “There’s a debate about further missiles.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer with David Lammy during a visit to the White House this week
“And we are discussing that as allies, as you would expect us to.
“I am not going to discuss the operational detail of that…because I’m not going to assist Putin as we head into the winter.”
He added: “Putin threatens every few months to use nuclear weapons, it’s totally unacceptable.
“We won’t be bullied by Putin’s shameless grandstanding.
“What he should now do is cease his aggression and leave Ukraine.”
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Lammy: ‘This is not a transparency issue’
He added Sir Keir has pledged £3 billion in aid to Ukraine and provided more missiles when asked, and will continue to support Ukraine.
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Several government ministers have “bullied staff”, the head of the civil servants union has told Sky News.
Dave Penman, chair of the FDA union, said concerns have been raised about the conduct of other ministers as Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, faces allegations of bullying by staff.
He said civil servants do not raise official complaints because they do not feel they will be taken seriously because of the way the complaints system works.
Asked by Sky News’ Kay Burley to confirm if civil servants have told the union that several ministers in Rishi Sunak’s government have behaved inappropriately towards them, Mr Penman said: “Yes.”
And asked if that behaviour was bullying, he said it was.
He added that it is a continual issue over successive governments, with civil servants quitting over ministers’ behaviour as they feel they cannot do anything about it.
Mr Penman used the example of the investigation into Priti Patel, the former home secretary.
She was found to have bullied staff but Boris Johnson, the prime minister at the time, did not respond for six months and then dismissed the findings.
“There are concerns raised about a number of ministers, that is essentially a constant in government,” Mr Penman added.
“It’s not just about this government. It’s every government. You know, there are dozens of ministers and stressful situations.
“And so at any point in time, you’re inevitably going to have a situation where there are concerns raised about the conduct of ministers. That’s why what you’re seeing isn’t just about Dominic Raab.”
Read more: Officials held meetings with civil servants to raise concerns before Raab’s reappointment
Image: Deputy PM and justice secretary Dominic Raab has been accused of bullying staff
Over the past week, Mr Raab has faced allegations of bullying civil servants, including losing his temper and throwing food around his department.
On Monday, Mr Sunak said he does not “recognise that characterisation” of Mr Raab and said there have been no formal complaints made against his deputy.
A spokesman for Mr Raab earlier said: “Dominic has high standards, works hard, and expects a lot from his team as well as himself.
“He has worked well with officials to drive the government’s agenda across Whitehall in multiple government departments and always acts with the utmost professionalism.”
Image: Rishi Sunak said he does not recognise the characterisation of Mr Raab
Labour’s Lisa Nandy told Sky News that when she was shadow foreign secretary, while Mr Raab was foreign secretary, she heard “a number of rumours this was a pattern of behaviour”, and also while he was justice secretary under Mr Johnson.
“It’s been something of an open secret in Westminster for the last few years there is a problem in the justice department, there was a problem in the Foreign Office – it was apparently particularly directed towards women,” she said.
“This is something that we hear coming out over and over again with this government, that there are accusations of bullying from the civil service.
“Lots of people who are not in positions of power, who feel that they can’t speak openly because of the huge repercussions and these rumours that swirl around Westminster.
“I think it’s really damning that Rishi Sunak has appointed Dominic Raab to this post knowing that this is potentially an issue.”
A spokesman for Mr Raab said they “categorically deny” Ms Nandy’s allegation, while his team said his office has generally been female-dominated and suggestions he has a woman problem is “nonsense”.
A source close to Mr Raab said: “This is baseless mudslinging with no grounding in reality, and undermines serious cases of bullying and inappropriate behaviour.”
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