At the summit Commonwealth leaders will elect a new secretary-general for the organisation who has expressed support for the idea of reparations.
Baroness Scotland, a Labour peer and former attorney general, is standing down as the group’s head after eight years in the role.
All three candidates vying to replace her – Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign minister, Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s foreign minister, and Senator Joshua Sepita of Lesotho – have expressed their support for some form of compensation payouts for slavery.
Sir Keir defended the “really important” Commonwealth after the leaders of India and South Africa shunned the summit to brush shoulders with Vladimir Putin.
Not attending
The Prime Minister said the bi-annual meeting of the 55 nation club in Samoa this week was an “incredible opportunity” to unlock new trade ties and boost growth.
Speaking onboard the flight to the meeting, he said it was a “matter for” other Commonwealth premiers to explain why they had chosen not to attend the gathering,
He made the remarks after it was confirmed Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, and Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, would not be present at the meeting.
The pair decided instead to attend a summit of the Brics group – which their two countries founded alongside Brazil, Russia and China – in the Russian city of Kazan.