James Cleverly will today urge world leaders to work together to fight online terror and prevent attacks at a United Nations meeting in India.
Attending the UN Security Council counter-terrorism committee in New Delhi, the Foreign Secretary – who kept his job in new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s Cabinet reshuffle – will urge the UK’s allies to tackle the use of technology by terror groups to recruit and radicalise people.
Sunak responds to criticism over ‘massive failure of leadership’ – latest updates
“Within the space of two decades, terrorists have gone from circulating crackly voice recordings from the depths of Tora Bora, to global online recruitment and incitement campaigns, to live streaming attacks,” he is expected to say.
“Online incitement has radicalised vulnerable people in far-off countries, who have gone on to use rental vans as weapons of terror.
“So we must continue to work together to fight terrorist ideologies online.”
Mr Cleverly is also expected to encourage the political leaders to “starve terrorists of the finance and emerging technologies that will cause death and destruction around the world”.
On Friday, the foreign secretary laid a wreath at the Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai in honour of those who were killed in the city’s 2008 terror attack – including three British nationals.
“The horrors of that day must never be repeated. The UK stands with India against terror,” Mr Cleverly tweeted after his visit.
The UK government is funding new technology to tackle drones which are being used to inflict terror and to stop terrorists from misusing them.
The foreign secretary is set to meet India’s minister of external affairs on Saturday to discuss boosting cooperation between the two countries.
It comes after Mr Sunak told his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi he hopes to make “good progress” on finalising a new trade deal in a phone call earlier this week.
The government missed the deadline for striking an agreement set by Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, back at home, Mr Sunak is under continued pressure over his reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
The new PM rehired Ms Braverman this week in the same role that she was forced to leave by Liz Truss while she was prime minister.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reiterated his claim that Mr Sunak did a “grubby deal trading security and support” in the Conservative leadership race and has called for Ms Braverman to be sacked.
“It really matters. I’ve been the director of public prosecutions, I know how important it is for the Home Secretary to be trusted, because others have to share documents with her,” he told reporters on Friday.
“To be sacked last week for breach of security and now be put back in place as the home secretary is an act of weakness from the prime minister.
“He should sack her – that will be the strong thing to do. That’s what I would do if I was prime minister.”
But Mr Sunak insisted that Ms Braverman has “learned from her mistake”.
“Now, as I said in Parliament earlier this week, she raised this topic with me when I discussed reappointing her as Home Secretary,” he told broadcasters.
“And I’m confident that she’s learned from her mistake.”
Read more: Why is Braverman’s reappointment so controversial?
The PM also insisted he does not regret the appointment despite the backlash, saying: “No, as I have said, she’s accepted her mistake and learned from it and I’m confident of that.”
Some Conservatives have broken rank to publicly air their concerns, with Caroline Nokes backing opposition calls for an inquiry and former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry describing the breach as “really serious”.
Downing Street has insisted that Ms Braverman maintains “strong relationships” with the security services.