Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the UK will not yet be signing up to US President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace over concerns about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s possible participation.
Cooper told the BBC the UK had been invited to join the board but “won’t be one of the signatories today” at a planned ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The foreign secretary described the board as a “legal treaty that raises much broader issues” than the initiative’s initial focus on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The charter proposed by the White House does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to replace some functions of the United Nations.
Countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Israel have said they will become members of the board, and at Davos, President Trump said Putin had accepted an invitation to join the initiative.
But President Putin has not confirmed this and earlier he said his country was still studying the invitation.
Speaking to the BBC’s Breakfast programme from Davos, Cooper said the UK had received an invitation to join the board and strongly supported Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza.
“That’s why we are also clear we want to play our part in phase two of the Gaza peace process,” Cooper said.
But she added: “We won’t be one of the signatories today because this is a legal treaty that raises much broader issues.
“And we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something that’s talking about peace when we’ve still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be commitment to peace in Ukraine.”
She said Putin had shown no willingness “to come and make that agreement and that’s where the pressure needs to be now”.
“But we will have continuing international discussions including with our allies,” the foreign secretary said.
Diplomatic relations between the US and the UK are on shakier ground after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on European nations if his demand to hand control of Greenland to his country was not met.
But Trump appears to have backed down, saying the US was exploring a potential deal on Greenland after talks with the Nato security alliance, as he dropped planned tariffs on eight European countries and ruled out using force to take the island.
Cooper welcomed the apparent climbdown on Greenland and said the UK and its European allies had put forward “positive, constructive proposals” on security in the Arctic.
But when asked about the Board of Peace, Cooper echoed other UK cabinet ministers who in recent days have been expressing concerns over Putin’s potential role in the scheme, given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The UK has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies and together with France, signed a declaration of intent on deploying troops to the country if a peace deal is made with Russia.
As talks to end the war in Ukraine continue, President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are due to meet in Davos on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Trump repeated his often-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.
Trump’s Board of Peace was originally unveiled by the White House as part of a plan to rebuild Gaza and design its future governance.
But the leaked text of the board’s founding charter goes far beyond that purpose.
The text says the board would be “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”.
The leaked document says the Board of Peace’s charter will enter into force once three states formally agree to be bound by it, with member states given renewable three-year terms and permanent seats available to those contributing $1bn (£740m), it said.
The charter declared the body as an international organisation mandated to carry out peace-building functions under international law, with Trump serving as chairman – and separately as the US representative – and holding authority to appoint executive board members and create or dissolve subsidiary bodies.
Last Friday, the White House named seven members of the founding Executive Board, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
More have now said they will join it, including Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The Vatican has said the Pope has also received an invitation.
