Alistair Burt tells inquiry he urged then foreign secretary in 2018 to ask Theresa May to authorise payment to release dual nationals
Boris Johnson appeared to accept advice while foreign secretary that payment of the £400m debt to Iran must not be linked to the release of the British-Iranian dual nationals, according to evidence given to MPs by his Middle East minister.
Alistair Burt also told the foreign affairs select committee that he wrote to Johnson in May 2018 urging him to ask the then prime minister, Theresa May, to overrule objections to payment of the debt being made by the Ministry of Defence. Burt said he asked Johnson to break the logjam after conversations with the then defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, about the MoD’s objections.
