2015

Announced that he will not seek re-election to Parliament in the May 2015 General Election – rest assured we will follow the work of his successor with interest!

2014

Voted in Parliament in favour of a motion calling on the UK government to recognise Palestinian statehood, and said “I firmly believe that Palestinians have a right to statehood, like other nations, and, on my visits to the West Bank as an FCO Minister, I saw ample evidence that they are ready for that step.”

But he weakened the landmark motion by sponsoring an amendment to add the condition that recognition take place as part of a negotiated solution – a position that fails to recognise Palestinians’ self-evident right to sovereignty. He also argued that Israel should be able to keep its illegal settlements, which in effect would mean accepting and rewarding Israel’s decades of land theft and a new border based on the apartheid wall that cuts into and annexes Palestinian land, which would be permanently confiscated from Palestinians under Mr Robertson’s vision.

• July: Steps down as Foreign Office minister in reshuffle.

July: In one of his last acts as a minister, he reported to Parliament on the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, and said that while Israel was adamant that Hamas was responsible, the UK government had seen “no hard evidence” of that.

• Visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories in his position as a Foreign Office minister.

2013

Appointed a Foreign Office minister and visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. He “saw firsthand the impact of the separation barrier, settlement expansion and house demolitions on the daily lives of the local community”, and he emphasised that settlements were illegal.

As Minister for Sport he defended the decision to award the hosting of the UEFA Under-21s football tournament to Israel despite its obstruction of the freedom of Palestinian athletes to pursue their own sports activities.

2008

• Visited Israel and the West Bank as a guest of the Conservative Middle East Council, which in November 2012 urged the UK to vote in favour of Palestinian statehood.