COMPO BLOW
Fresh blow to Sir Keir Starmer as PM dismally fails to shut down calls for talks over slave-trade compensation
Downing Street had said the issue would not even be on the agenda
SIR Keir Starmer’s Commonwealth charm offensive backfired yesterday when he was unable to shut down calls for talks over slave trade compensation.
He dismally failed to get demands for damages thrown out, with countries’ leaders saying the “time has come” for discussions.
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The PM travelled more than 9,000 miles to Samoa to be left red-faced after Downing Street said the issue would not even be on the agenda.
But he insisted Britain will not pay a penny after allies thrust the need for talks into an end-of- summit communiqué.
Sir Keir said: “There is . . . a paragraph in the communique about reparatory justice.
“But I should be really clear, in the two days we’ve been here none of the discussions have been about money.
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“Our position is very, very clear.”
But Sir Keir was still slammed for allowing it to slip on to the agenda.
Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted Britain should not “pay reparations for policies which were pursued by a British government two centuries ago”.
“We can’t bear any responsibility whatsoever for it," he added.
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“It was a different period in our history entirely, we weren’t a democracy… it’s absurd, frankly, to talk about us having to apologise for slavery.
“And to insinuate therefore that money is going to fall from heaven, in trillions.
“That’s simply not on.”
It is likely that the matter will next be raised formally at the UK-Caribbean Forum next year.