Britain without a judge on the International Court of Justice for first time since 1946

ICJ
The International Court of Justice, at The Hague

Britain has withdrawn its candidate for a seat on the International Court of Justice amid a row about the UK’s position in the world – leaving Britain without a judge on the court for the first time since 1946.

Sir Christopher Greenwood QC had sat on the court for the past nine years, and was hoping to be re-elected.

But on Monday, amid continued threats from UN members to block his candidacy, Britain withdrew Sir Christopher from the race. It meant that India’s nominee, Dalveer Bhandari, will take up the seat instead.

“The UK has concluded that it is wrong to continue to take up the valuable time of the Security Council,” said Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the UN.

Rycroft
Matthew Rycroft, Britain's ambassador to the UN

Sir Christopher’s failure to win a seat marked the first time in UN history that the candidacy of a permanent member of the Security Council was challenged.

All five permanent members of the UN Security Council were believed to have rallied behind Sir Christopher, but he failed to secure a majority in both the General Assembly and the Security Council, after 12 rounds of voting.

Some diplomats attributed Britain's failure to rally support for its candidate to a loss of influence, following the decision to vote to leave the European Union.

The vote represents a significant failure for British diplomacy. 

The UK had fought hard to secure Sir Christopher’s approval, reportedly urging the Security Council to resort to the Joint Conference Mechanism which was last used 96 years ago, leading Indian sources to accuse the UK of “dirty politics”.

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