Britain | Pakistan

Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to the United States, was sacked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday after a trove of emails revealed the depth of his ties with the late convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Known for his behind-the-scenes manoeuvring during a career lasting over three decades, Mandelson was forced from Britain’s most desirable diplomatic post after some of his letters and emails to Epstein were revealed this week. Starmer, struggling in opinion polls after numerous setbacks, had strongly backed his ambassador on Wednesday as a state visit by US President Donald Trump, with whom Mandelson had developed strong ties, looms next week. Trump has also faced questions about his links with Epstein, with the White House denying that an alleged birthday letter from him to the late financier is authentic. Mandelson called Epstein ‘my best pal’ Mandelson, who was key to the Labour Party’s success when Tony Blair was prime minister, had come under scrutiny after US lawmakers released do...

Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. The two countries concluded talks on the trade pact in May after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides hastening efforts to clinch a deal in the shadow of tariff turmoil unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. The agreement between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds ($34bn) by 2040. It is Britain’s biggest trade deal since it left the European Union in 2020, although its impact will be a fraction of the effect of leaving the orbit of its closest trading partner. For India, it represents its biggest strategic partnership with an advanced economy, and one which could provide a template for a long-mooted deal with the EU as well as talks with other regions. It will take effect aft...

Britain and the United States have agreed on the need to implement a tariff relief deal between the countries as soon as possible, the UK government said, after their trade envoys met on the eve of impending higher tariffs on steel. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to reduce tariffs on British […]

The European Union and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday without waiting for the United States to join them, a day after President Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin without winning a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine. London and Brussels said their new measures would zero in on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and financial companies that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions imposed over the war. “Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. But the new measures were unveiled without an immediate announcement of corresponding steps from Washington, despite intense public lobbying from leaders of European countries for the Trump administration to join them. “We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing from Russia — an immediate ceasefire without preconditions,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on the sidelines of a ...