GETTY Boris Johnson is understood to have been victim of a French diplomatic ambus

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The Foreign Secretary ordered Sir Christopher Greenwood to withdraw from the ICJ elections last month, leaving the UK without a seat for the first time since the body’s creation in 1946. Senior Whitehall officials said Britain pulled out because it feared the humiliation of losing the backing of UN security council members after France indicated it could not pledge its support. Mr Johnson was also caught out by a well-organised lobbying campaign by India which earned its candidate a place on the 15-member court ahead of Sir Christopher.

GETTY Britain has lost its seat on the International Court of Justice for the first time

Boris only became aware of the scale of the problem very late on Foreign Office source

The foreign secretary took charge of a desperate offensive days before Britain gave up the fight on November 21, after British diplomats in the UN were stunned by the first round of voting. A source told The Times: “Boris only became aware of the scale of the problem very late on. “To be fair, he worked the phones all weekend but by then it was too late.” The UK managed to secure a majority on the security council but it was out-gunned in the general assembly almost two to one.

With a majority needed in both, Britain decided to pull out because it feared losing support. The source said: “We just couldn’t be sure we’d keep the majority if we pushed it all the way and that would have been far worse.” He said that France was the member of the permanent five group on the security council most opposed to forcing a showdown with the general assembly. French representative Ronny Abraham had been elected at the top of the field of candidates, gaining a unanimous 15 votes in the security council and large majorities in the general assembly.

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