Sir Alan Duncan KCMG, a former Conservative foreign office minister, announced at a press conference yesterday that he has been cleared by the Conservative Campaign Headquarters of wrongdoing following an investigation into him after comments he made were alleged to have been antisemitic. This was despite there not being any formal complaint.

The investigation found that his comments, which were made during an LBC radio interview on 4 April 2024, “did not go beyond political debate” and “were not antisemitic and could not properly be regarded as such.”

Sir Alan had defended international law during the interview with Nick Ferrari, calling for an arms embargo and highlighting the illegality of settlements. He had added that politicians promoting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist policies should be sacked from government or expelled from the House of Lords.

Sir Alan has been a defender of human rights in Palestine for over 30 years. During his press conference, he called the investigation “a political scandal which discredits the Conservative Party, and which amounts to a McCarthyite witch hunt which is nothing less than despicable.” He also spoke of the opaque nature of the investigation process, having never been told who the complainant was, nor the code he had been alleged to have violated, nor even a copy of the accusation that he was expected to provide a defence for.

Sir Alan was represented by Tayab Ali who heads our International Law practice, Axel Landin, Associate in our Media and Information team, as well as Zac Sammour of 11KBW as Counsel.