Exclusive: Peer meet Israeli officials and business leaders on visit that had no support from ministers
The Foreign Office recommended that David Lammy endorse a trade mission to Israel, days after he suspended trade talks and rebuked the country’s government, internal documents reveal.
In an unusual move, officials asked for ministerial advice over Ian Austin’s visit to Israel in late May. Bureaucratic dysfunction meant the trip by the trade envoy went ahead without the support of ministers or advisers.
The Foreign Office had said the peer would not meet any representatives of the Israeli government. But photographs show him with senior Israeli trade officials on two occasions.
Austin also went to a reception at the British embassy where the education minister, Yoav Kisch, gave a speech.
