Ed Miliband's 'personal agenda' hurting the UK says Tom Tugendhat in blast at 'virtue-signalling' Israel sanctions, handshake with top Iranian and green fixation

Ed Miliband is pursuing a 'personal agenda' as the UK's top diplomat that prioritises his green views and 'virtue signalling' over energy security and relations with allies like Israel, Tom Tugendhat warned today.In a scything attack the shadow foreign secretary said it was time to stop treating the Foreign and Development Office like 'an international NGO' and use it to project British power abroad.He took aim at his opposite number for a controversial handshake with Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi at the UN last month against a backdrop of state-sponsored terrorism in the UK.And Mr Tugendhat, the former security minister, lashed out at the decision to hit Israel with sanctions over its illegal West Bank settlements, which led to a major falling out with a key security ally.To applause at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham he said: 'We think it is wrong to have a man in the Foreign Office who ties our energy to China instead of deepening and strengthening our union by tapping resources from the North Sea.'We think it is wrong to have a Foreign Secretary who chooses to virtue signal over intelligence sharing in a way that will keep Britain safe, because that isn't serving the British people.'That is serving his personal agenda.'In a scything attack the shadow foreign secretary said it was time to stop treating the Foreign and Development Office like 'an international NGO' and use it to project British power abroad He took aim at his opposite number for a controversial handshake with Iranian Abbas Araghchi minister at the UN that happened while it plots terror attacks in the UKThe UK, France and Canada announced sanctions last month in response to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.It includes a ban on imports from illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and sanctions on individuals and firms providing services to settlers.In response Israel ordered Britain to close the East Jerusalem consulate within 30 days and remove its diplomats from the city.The British consulate, in the ​Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, handles the country's relations with Palestinians in ​the city as ⁠well as in the West Bank and Gaza. It also provides consular services to Palestinians.The consulate has been in Jerusalem for almost 200 years, long before the State of Israel was established in 1948.The 30-day deadline for Britain to close the consulate ends on Thursday, which will impact around 30 British diplomats who work there, along with their family members, the sources said.If the consulate is closed, Britain is likely to respond by expelling a similar number of Israeli diplomats from Israel's embassy to the United Kingdom, sources told Reuters.After his speech Mr Tugendhat said some of the actions of the Netanyahu government have been 'appalling'.But he added that accusing Israel of being solely responsible for the lack of a two-state solution would be 'absurd'.Asked about reports that the UK is considering expelling Israeli diplomats if Benjamin Netanyahu's government follows through in shutting the UK consulate in East Jerusalem, the shadow foreign secretary told reporters: 'My response to this is this is something that didn't need to happen in either sense.'We should have a consulate open in Jerusalem, and Israeli diplomats should be able to operate freely in the United Kingdom. 'We have a very close relationship on security partnerships, on defence partnerships, where we buy more than we sell.'Let's be clear, and we need to be making sure that we keep that relationship going. Now, look, I'm not going to tell you that I agree with everything the Netanyahu government has done. Of course, I don't.'Some of its actions have been frankly appalling in various different ways, but the idea that it's only Israel that's responsible for failing a two-state solution is absolutely absurd.'As so many leaders have said in the past, the Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.'Every single time there has been a peace deal on the table, it has been rejected. And frankly, after what are we now? Three years? Yes, three years, almost to the day since October 7.'The idea that Israel alone is responsible is extraordinary, and frankly, a very strange way of reading what's going on in the Middle East.'