David Cameron did not meet with ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan last April but did see a top government barrister a day later to “discuss international humanitarian law”.
The 16 April 2024 meeting in London between Cameron, who was then the foreign secretary, and Sir James Eadie KC is recorded in newly released transparency logs of Foreign Office ministerial meetings.
Eadie, who has been described as “Whitehall’s secret weapon”, frequently represents the government in high-stakes legal cases.
Known in legal circles as the “Treasury Devil”, he is the barrister to whom “the Government turn first for their major pieces of advice and litigation”, according to his chambers.
At the time of his discussion with Cameron, Eadie was representing the business and trade department in a High Court legal challenge over its continued arms exports to Israel, seven months into the war on Gaza.
The case involved revelations about the extent to which Cameron continued to recommend British arms sales to Israel despite serious concerns raised in the Foreign Office that Israel had breached international law in Gaza.
Cameron and Eadie’s meeting fell a day after internal Foreign Office emails suggest that Cameron’s office had pencilled in an in-person meeting with Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor.
Government logs, which cover a three-month period from Spring 2024, confirm that Cameron did not meet Karim Khan on 15 April despite the Foreign Office’s top lawyer strongly advising him to do so.
The records were published late last month after Declassified asked why they were missing from the public record.
They also show Cameron having a “personal lunch” in his office with the Crown actor Dominic West and drinks with Newsmax Media CEO and Trump confidante, Chris Ruddy, ahead of a US trip.
Jonathan Purcell, head of public affairs for the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, said: “Cameron’s short and turbulent term as foreign secretary was already mired by controversies, from allegedly ignoring legal advice on banning arms exports to allegedly threatening the ICC.
“This revelation not only emphasises the previous government’s opaque and tarnished reputation on international law, but it also shows woeful prioritisation and a failure in leadership that the current government has continued to perpetuate.”
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The phone call
Khan had requested the meeting with Cameron in late March, presumably to brief the foreign secretary about his plans to pursue warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, weeks after he had already briefed the Biden administration.
But an in-person meeting never happened, according to released records.
Instead, a government source told Declassified that the men had a phone conversation during the three-month period which would not have been captured in ministerial meeting logs.
Khan alleged last month that it was during a call on 23 April 2024 that an unnamed senior British official threatened to withdraw UK funding and support for the ICC if arrest warrants were pursued for Israelis.
Cameron has not responded to requests for comment about the allegations.
The Foreign Office did not respond to Declassified’s request last month to confirm that the call was on 23 April, but in response to a FOI request filed by Unredacted and reported by Middle East Eye, the department has revealed that the only person on the call with Khan was Cameron.
It has also been reported that Khan met in London on 15 April – the day that Foreign Office staffers said would work for Cameron – with British justice minister Alex Chalk to relay the forthcoming warrants.
The Ministry of Justice ministerial meetings log has no record of the meeting. Asked about the logs, the MoJ’s press office told Declassified they would not know about meetings held during a previous government and suggested that Chalk be approached.
Chalk did not respond to requests to confirm the meeting.
Cameron trip to Israel and occupied territories
On 15 April, social media posts show that Cameron met in the morning with Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei Navalnaya’s widow who now leads his Russian opposition movement, and later on with Chilean foreign minister Alberto van Klaveren.
Ministerial travel records and social media show that Cameron traveled to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories on 16 April, presumably after his meeting with Eadie.
There he met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz and Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammed Mustafa among other leaders.
Travel costs for the three-day trip, which also included a stop in Capri for the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting, came to just over £200,720, travel records show.
A month later, Khan announced that he was requesting arrest warrants for Netanyahu, then Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif.
