Starmer snubs Trump’s signing ceremony for Gaza Board of Peace over Putin involvement

Sir Keir Starmer has not taken part in Donald Trump’s signing ceremony for his Gaza Board of Peace over concerns about the inclusion of Vladimir Putin, in what will be viewed as a snub to the US president.

The US president signed the document on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Tony Blair, who was controversially named on the board.

The foreign secretary earlier said the UK will not be involved in the ceremony in Davos, citing unease about the Russian president “being part of something which is talking about peace”.

Sir Keir Starmer has expressed concerns about the board in recent days, with his spokesperson telling reporters that the UK was “still looking at the terms”.

Mr Putin was also not present at a ceremony. The Kremlin has acknowledged an invitation to the board and is “studying the details” to seek clarity of “all the nuances”, according to spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

“We won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues,” Ms Cooper told BBC Breakfast.

“And we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine.”

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She added: “We’re not one of the signatories today, but we will have continuing international discussions, including with our allies, including on how we work with this, and how we work with the peace process for Gaza going forward.”

The “Board of Peace” was originally laid out by Mr Trump as a small group of world leaders who would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, but has since developed into playing a broader role.

At the ceremony, Trump claimed “just about every country” wants to be a part of the newly formed board, adding that once it is completely formed: “We can do pretty much whatever we want to do.”

“When America booms the entire world booms,” Trump told the gathering. “This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created and it’s my enormous honour to serve as its chairman.”

Mr Trump extended invitations to dozens of nations and suggested the board could soon mediate various international conflicts, akin to a pseudo-UN Security Council.

Around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Belarus.

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Senior officials from 19 countries were introduced as founding members of the collective that Trump is set to oversee.

Countries represented on stage at the ceremony included: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

The US president said on Wednesday that he has “a lot of great people that want to join”, describing it as “the most prestigious board ever formed”.

Norway, Sweden and France have said they will not join the board for now as tensions rise between the US and Nato over Trump’s desire to own Greenland.

Trump yesterday backed down from his threat to impose on European nations after reaching the “framework of a future deal” over Greenland, hours after giving a fiery speech in Davos.

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Italy is also set to reject the invitation, according to national paper Corriere della Sera.

French officials stressed that while they support the Gaza peace plan, they were concerned the board could seek to replace the UN as the main venue for resolving conflicts.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who was also invited to join, told media on Tuesday that it was hard for him to imagine being together with Russia on this or another board.

Executive board members include US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank president Ajay Banga, and Mr Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.

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UN officials have so far dismissed concerns that Trump is trying to side step the organisation, saying on Wednesday it is unlikely that decades of multilateral peacebuilding with the participation of more than 190 member countries could be replaced.

Mr Trump said on Thursday the board will work “in conjunction with the United Nations” and added: “I've always said the United Nations has got tremendous potential, has not used it, but there's tremendous potential in the United Nations, and you have some great people at the United Nations, but so far, it hasn't.”

Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesperson, said: “There have been any number of organisations — regional organisations, defence alliances and others — that have coexisted with the UN over the 80 years that the UN’s been in existence.”