The UK and the EU have both recently approved new aid packages to Ukraine, but US president Joe Biden’s $95bn (£75bn) proposed bill which includes security assistance for Kyiv is being blocked in the House of Representatives, where the Republicans have a majority.
The Foreign Secretary stressed he had not come to Washington to “lecture” any US politicians on their own foreign policy, but said he could get “emotional” about Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.
Lord Cameron said: “To me this is so fundamental to how Britain and America have worked together over years, over decades, to keep our world safe and to enhance our security.
“I think of my grandfather landing on the Normandy beaches under the cover of an American warship. I think of how I worked together with President Obama to deal with the Isil threat in Syria and Iraq. How we hunted down those terrible killers of British and American hostages in the Syrian desert. Jihadi John and his like.
“To me this is the same thing. We face a huge threat from an aggressive [Russian President Vladimir] Putin taking other countries’ territory by force and it is so important that we stick together.”
‘It’s not for us to tell you what to do’
On pressing views on congressmen, Lord Cameron said he felt “great trepidation” about doing so, saying “it’s not for foreign politicians to tell legislators in another country what to do”.
But he added: “I’m here to offer my opinion, to meet with anyone who wants to talk to me about it, to make those arguments.”
On continuing to allow arms sales to Israel, Lord Cameron said: “This is consistent with the advice that I and other ministers have received, and as ever we will keep the position under review.”
But, he added, the UK continued to have “grave concerns” about humanitarian access to Gaza, saying Israeli promises to “flood Gaza with aid… now need to be turned into reality”.
On Rafah, he said: “We have a very clear plan A for how we bring this conflict to an end.
“We have a temporary pause, we turn that into a sustainable ceasefire, we see Hamas leaders removed from Gaza, we see the terrorist infrastructure taken down. That is the way to have a political process that brings the war to an end.
“But we have to be aware if that doesn’t work, we have to think about what is plan B, what can humanitarian and other organisations do to make sure that if there is a conflict in Rafah that people can achieve safety, they can get food, they can get water, they can get medicine, and people are kept safe.”
