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No.10 has denied that Keir Starmer ever pledged to boycott Qatar – even though he refused to visit the country when it hosted the World Cup.
The prime minister is hosting Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the country’s Emir, on Wednesday during his state visit to the UK.
Qatar is looking to invest £1bn in British climate technology.
But the deal has put Starmer in an awkward situation as, before he got into Downing Street, he said he would not go to Qatar even if England reached the final of the World Cup.
Speaking in 2022, he said: “No I wouldn’t [go to Qatar]. I’d love to but I think that the human rights record is such that I wouldn’t go and that’ll be the position of the Labour Party.”
Starmer also used PMQs to slam Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, saying: “It’s totally unacceptable that during this tournament gay football fans are unable to acknowledge who they love.”
But when asked today if the PM had ended this apparent boycott, a spokeswoman for Starmer told journalists Starmer did visit Qatar last year on his way back from the COP climate change summit.
She claimed his previous remarks about the country “were in relation to the specific issues around the World Cup.”
Pressed if that was around the treatment of construction workers who built the stadium, she said: “I would just point to his comments at the time and make the point he did visit Qatar.”
Asked if he regrets boycotting the country, she said: “Again, I do not accept that he boycotted Qatar.”
The PM’s official spokesman also said: “More broadly as we discussed earlier in the week, the PM is clear that where we have concerns, we always raise them.
“The PM has always been clear we are acting in the interests of the British people.”
Starmer is also expected to mention the only British hostage in Gaza, Emily Damari, when he meets the Emir of Qatar on Wednesday, as the country has become a key negotiator in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Qatar has played a leading mediation role in the conflict and you can expect the release of hostages to feature.
“I would also point you to what he said earlier in the week at the LFI (Labour Friends of Israel) event, that in every diplomatic conversation he has he urges world leaders to do everything they can to see the return of hostages.”
The new transport secretary Heidi Alexander also defended the PM on LBC this morning, saying: “The World Cup – a football game, something you do for fun – is quite different to the responsibilities that you have when you are prime minister of a country to ensure that you maintain diplomatic relations.
“Some of the time you need to have difficult conversations, but it’s often important to maintain channels of communication so that those difficult conversations can sometimes be had.”
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