A LABOUR MP has been forced to resign as the UK’s trade envoy to Turkey amid controversy over a visit to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.

Afzal Khan, who represents Manchester Rusholme, had stepped down from his position on Friday, a government spokesman has told the BBC.

Mr Khan said the trip to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised by the UK Government, was to visit his nephew and to receive an honorary degree.

He said he had paid for the trip himself.

The act of freelance diplomacy riled the official Cypriot government in the south who described his actions as “absolutely condemnable and unacceptable”.

Turkish troops have occupied the northern section of the Mediterranean island since 1974.

Shadow foreign minister Wendy Morton told the BBC that she welcomed Mr Khan’s resignation, but said Sir Keir Starmer should have sacked him earlier.