David Cameron has threatened to withdraw Foreign Office support for Scottish ministers after Humza Yousaf met the Turkish president without UK officials.
The foreign secretary wrote to the Scottish National party government saying it was a breach of protocol for Yousaf to have discussed Gaza and other matters with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Cop28 summit.
After the meeting, Cameron wrote to Angus Robertson, the SNP’s external affairs secretary, warning he would take a harder approach to the breach.
The letter, first reported by the BBC, said the Scottish government had assured the Foreign Office that it would give “sufficient advance notice” of the meeting with Erdoğan but that this did not happen.
“The absence of an FCDO [Foreign Office] official at this meeting contravenes the protocols in our guidance on FCDO support to devolved government ministers’ overseas visits,” the letter reads.
“Any further breaches of the protocol of ministerial meetings have a FCDO official present will result in no further FCDO facilitation of meetings or logistical support. We will also need to consider the presence of Scottish government offices in UK government posts.”
James Cleverly, the former foreign secretary, issued a similar warning when Yousaf met the Icelandic prime minister without UK officials in the summer.
A UK government spokesperson added: “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.”
A spokesperson for the first minister said a UK official was aware of and invited to the meeting. “The nature of events such as Cop is that timings can change at the last minute, and the FCDO representative was elsewhere at the time it was convenient for the Turkish president to meet,” the spokesperson said.
“Any threat by the UK government to curtail the Scottish government’s international engagement is misguided and would work against Scotland’s interests.”
