Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has responded to criticism from UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron over a meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Cameron had threatened to withdraw UK support for Scottish ministers during overseas visits, claiming Yousaf had breached protocols by meeting Erdogan without a UK official present. He also threatened to close Scottish offices in UK embassies. Yousaf dismissed the criticism from an “unelected lord” and called Cameron “petty” and “misguided.”
Yousaf stated that the Turkish president’s team arranged the meeting at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates on short notice, and that he would have “no problem” with a UK government official attending. He warned that Scotland’s economy would be harmed if the FCDO withdrew support for the Scottish government overseas.
A UK government spokesperson said: “Foreign affairs is reserved under the Scotland Act and, in such turbulent times, the need for the UK to speak on the world stage with one consistent voice is more important than ever.” However, a Scottish government source said Cameron’s letter was a “gross overreaction,” adding: “You can hardly say to a president, ‘Can you wait a second while we find our chaperone?'” They said that the FCDO representative was “very late” for a couple of meetings at the summit, but that was “the nature of fast moving things like COP.”
This is not the first time Yousaf has faced criticism from the UK over overseas visits without UK representation. In August, James Cleverly, then the foreign secretary, made a similar threat after Yousaf met the Icelandic prime minister without UK diplomats present. However, according to a UK government source, this latest intervention represents an escalation over the issue and Cameron wishes to take a “harder line” approach than Cleverly
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