The UK’s trade envoy to Turkey was sacked on Friday after causing a diplomatic spat with an unauthorised trip.
Six days after the Daily Mail first reported the story, and following a week of building pressure, Labour MP Afzal Khan was removed from his post following a visit to northern Cyprus.
In common with the rest of the world bar Turkey, the UK does not recognise the breakaway state – and is forbidden from doing so by UN resolutions.
Nevertheless, Mr Khan met its leader in his official residence and posed for photographs beneath the territory’s flag – a breach of international protocol.
The act of freelance diplomacy riled the official Cypriot government in the south who described his actions as ‘absolutely condemnable and unacceptable’.
