A trade envoy’s controversial trip to northern Cyprus was last night likened to visiting the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer faced yet more pressure to sack Afzal Khan, who has caused a diplomatic spat with an unauthorised visit to a territory the UK does not recognise.
Labour MP Mr Khan, UK trade envoy to Turkey, posed for pictures in the self-declared Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus, standing alongside the breakaway state’s leader.
The Cypriot government in the south regards the north as a rogue state. It says Mr Khan’s trip, which it has branded ‘absolutely condemnable’, confers recognition on it.
On Thursday, Christos Karaolis, president of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, said: ‘No UK Government minister would travel to Crimea…or be pictured alongside flags and symbols representing the so-called “Republic of Crimea” regime.
