A group of 26 former British diplomats has written a letter to the Times newspaper urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to recognise a Palestinian state.
The letter has been signed by former British ambassadors to numerous Middle Eastern countries, including Sir Dominick Chilcott, a former ambassador to Turkey, Peter Millett, a former ambassador to Libya and Lord Andrew Green, who was ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
The Times published the letter on Monday morning, although the headline of the letters page online was about how “tech-free ‘cloisters’ can help young minds”.
Signatories to the letter on recognising Palestine also include Sir William Patey, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, as well as Peter Jenkins, Sir Jeremy Greenstock and Lord David Hannay, three former ambassadors to the United Nations.
Macron is set to visit the UK on Tuesday.
“When Sir Keir Starmer receives President Macron tomorrow, they will reaffirm their welcome determination to support Ukraine… We need that same unity of purpose over Israel and Palestine,” the letter reads.
The diplomats write that Starmer and Macron should press again for an “immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza”.
They add that the two leaders should “decide now to recognise the state of Palestine unconditionally, endorsing the Palestinian right to self-determination alongside Israel”.
“Britain and France together will bring Commonwealth and European partners with them. It is vital to show the world, particularly President Trump, that there is an alternative based in law to Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared policy: living by the sword.”
Lord Ian Austin, Britain’s trade envoy to Israel, attacked the letter on X for not mentioning “Hamas or the October 7th atrocities which started this latest conflict”.
Nor does the letter mention Hamas or the October 7th atrocities which started this latest conflict https://t.co/AUBdAOuTQZ
— Ian Austin (@LordIanAustin) July 7, 2025
After the UK suspended free trade agreement talks with Israel in May, Austin wrote a column for PoliticsHome criticising the move and arguing that “thousands of jobs in the UK depend on trade with Israel”. He then visited Israel to “drum up business for Britain”.
Plans to recognise Palestinian state dropped
Last month France was preparing to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state at a major UN conference on the two-state solution beginning on 17 June in New York, which it was set to co-host with Saudi Arabia. At the time, sources told Middle East Eye the proposed move had “unsettled” Netanyahu.
MEE understands that France was lobbying Britain to recognise a Palestinian state at the conference alongside it.
In late May, Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister, threatened Britain and France that Israel may annex parts of the West Bank if they recognised a Palestinian state.
And the US privately warned the two European countries against unilaterally recognising Palestine, sources with knowledge of the matter in the British Foreign Office told MEE.
Shortly afterwards, both countries reportedly decided against recognising Palestine.
The planned UN conference was then postponed in mid-June amid hostilities between Israel and Iran.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has publicly opposed unilateral recognition, insisting earlier this year that the UK would only recognise a Palestinian state “when we know it’s going to happen and it’s in sight”.
If France and Britain recognised a Palestinian state, it would likely cause a political earthquake, since they would become the first G7 nations to do so.