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Lord David Cameron has warned US politicians against the “appeasement” of Russia as he increased efforts to secure aid to Ukraine, but was left struggling to make inroads having been snubbed by Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
The UK foreign secretary told US broadcasters on Wednesday that, while support was strong for an end to the war in Ukraine, a stalled US funding package for military aid for Kyiv was badly needed.
“Peace comes through strength, not through appeasement and weakness,” he told CNN after talks with his US counterpart Antony Blinken.
But Cameron was left grappling with the limited reception he received from US Republicans after failing to secure a meeting with Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the central player in the congressional battle over aid for Ukraine.
Cameron said in a video last week that he would see Johnson and urge him to find a way forward on the Ukraine aid package. But the two men are not due to meet while the foreign secretary is in Washington, in a setback for the former UK prime minister, who has become a high-profile figure on the international stage since returning to frontline politics late last year.
Cameron arrived in Washington having held talks on Monday with Donald Trump in Florida, where he hoped to win over the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who has been wary of providing more US aid to Ukraine.
Cameron did not appear to change Trump’s mind. A spokesperson for the former president said after the meeting that the politicians discussed “several issues impacting both countries” including “the need for Nato countries to meet their defence spending requirements, and ending the killing in Ukraine”.
British diplomats said Cameron’s status as a former national leader had helped facilitate meetings with global figures, including Trump and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, that others would not have been granted.
Cameron was asked to become foreign secretary in November by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, after a spell in the political wilderness. This followed his defenestration from Downing Street in 2016 after losing the Brexit referendum and a period advising collapsed finance group Greensill Capital.
While British diplomats said Cameron had brought “heft” to the job, he was left struggling to make an impression on Capitol Hill with Republicans involved in an intensely political debate over providing more arms to Kyiv.
Johnson has come under mounting pressure to support a package for Ukraine but has so far stalled on holding a vote on new security funds amid a split in his party between more traditional Republicans such as Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader, and more isolationist figures such as Trump and firebrand congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Cameron met McConnell in person on Tuesday and held a call with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan. He is not expected to meet President Joe Biden, who is separately hosting Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida for a state visit.
The foreign secretary was also scheduled to hold talks on Wednesday with Hakeem Jeffries, Johnson’s Democratic counterpart in the Senate, and Ben Cardin, the Democratic chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations.
Details of any additional meetings with Republican and Democratic lawmakers were not disclosed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
In a joint press conference with Blinken on Tuesday, Cameron described aid for Ukraine as profoundly in America’s interest.
Hours after having dinner with Trump, Cameron said he had “no intention to lecture” US politicians but believed that releasing funds was in the country’s security interests.
Cameron told MSNBC on Wednesday that he was pleading with American congressmen to support measures that would boost the domestic economy.
“This is actually an investment in American security. Ninety per cent of what you spend will go into jobs here,” he said.
He also welcomed Biden’s recent call for Israel to facilitate more aid to Gaza and push for a ceasefire in the war with Hamas, saying the move “could be transformational”.
Sunak said earlier on Wednesday that the UK government would closely align with allies and not suspend its arm sales to Israel. He told LBC Radio that export licences were reviewed “periodically” and that this had “led to no change” so far.
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