On 15 October, the UK’s The Sunday Times published an article by journalists Gabriel Pogrund, Harry Yorke, and Lousie Callaghan entitled ‘How a Libyan militiaman charmed his way into Westminster, thanks to Mark Fullbrook, No 10’s chief of staff’. The article details how the new Downing Street chief of staff, Mark Fullbrook, lobbied ministers to meet with the Government of National Stability (GNS) Prime Minister, Fathi Bashaagha, claiming he was Libya’s ‘legitimate prime minister’. The Sunday Times claims that Fullbrook was paid by his lobbying company Fullbrook Strategies to ‘wage a foreign campaign on Bashaagha’s behalf, targeting ministers, Downing Street officials, and diplomats’, though it does not say who may have been behind this payment. The article states that in June of this year, Fullbrook arranged for Bashaagha to visit London for two days, which was neither approved by the Prime Minister’s office nor the Foreign Office and led to an intervention by the British Ambassador to Libya who stated Bashaagha was not a guest of the British government. The Sunday Times claims that Fullbrook organised a meeting and photo opportunity with Bashaagha and two cabinet ministers, which Bashaagha shared with Libyan news channels. The article states that Britain has refused to recognise Bashaagha and that the UK embassy in Libya ‘does not endorse the establishment of parallel governments or institutions’. They also say that Fulbrook declared to the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists that he lobbied ministers on behalf of the House of Representatives (HoR).
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