{"id":218666,"date":"2025-10-22T20:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/218666\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T20:24:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:24:14","slug":"why-europe-needs-britains-under-fire-security-chief-jonathan-powell-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/218666\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Europe needs Britain\u2019s under-fire security chief Jonathan Powell \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

He has \u201cunique credibility\u201d in international circles, a European diplomat said, citing Powell\u2019s\u00a0 well-documented<\/a> background in international conflict resolution, after playing a crucial role in securing peace in Northern Ireland as ex-PM Blair\u2019s chief of staff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis deep personal networks equip him with credibility that resonates globally,\u201d the European diplomat said. They pointed to the direct line Powell has to Washington, including links with Trump\u2019s National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and to Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s Chief of Staff, Andriy Yermak, in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Powell draws on his personal network. \u201cThere are various examples of when there have been attempts through official channels to make contact with a prime minister or president\u2019s office, to no avail. But Jonathan will know somebody who knows somebody, which means the contact can be made right away,\u201d a former No. 10 official said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jonathan Powell has been credited as a key player in helping to repair the damage of Zelenskyy\u2019s Oval Office brawl with Donald Trump in March. | Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

As the finishing touches to Trump\u2019s Gaza peace plan were being drawn up earlier this month, Powell was in regular contact with both Blair and the White House, particularly United States Special Envoy to the Middle East\u00a0Steve Witkoff, a senior U.K. official noted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s experience negotiating the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland peace deal struck after years of bloodshed, is directly relevant, the same British official said, bolstering U.K. claims they could, and should, play a key role in implementing the Gaza plan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The inclusion of phased incentives, an amnesty for former Hamas members, as well as a process for security normalization, all have echoes of elements of the Good Friday Agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He has \u201cunique credibility\u201d in international circles, a European diplomat said, citing Powell\u2019s\u00a0 well-documented background in international conflict…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36750,93541,891,5704,1343,627,230,141,461,3764,2992,59,57,58,2274,420,150,36027,70830,2363,50,1647,470,1351,30972,18638,56,157,54,158,55,160,161],"class_list":["post-218666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-alexander-stubb","tag-andriy-yermak","tag-china","tag-conflict","tag-courts","tag-david-lammy","tag-diplomacy","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-espionage","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-ireland","tag-keir-starmer","tag-mark-rutte","tag-mauritius","tag-meps","tag-negotiations","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-rights","tag-security","tag-steve-witkoff","tag-tony-blair","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}