A wide-ranging debate on how best to make President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration feel the heat of restrictive measures took centre stage in the House of Lords on the back of calls to make the situation uncomfortable for Harare.
The Western governments have maintained sanctions against Zimbabwe for more than two decades now in a bid to pile pressure over a cocktail of bad governance issues which range from human rights, and corruption to illicit financial flows.
The downfall of longtime ruler, the late former President Robert Mugabe in 2017 attempted to represent a new page on the global arena following Mnangagwa's commitment to launch the re-engagement agenda.
But before going far with the initiative, the West bashed him describing the Second Republic as even worse than Mugabe's era owing to the decaying human rights situation and election fraud.
To this end, the United States has taken the first leap in tightening targeted sanctions against Mnangagwa and his top cronies, widening the legacy rift between Washington and Harare.
So stale are the relations to the point that authorities in Harare recently rounded up four USAID officials and deported them for attempting to "destabilise" the country.
Harare has vowed to press ahead with the re-engagement drive and accuses the US and the West of interfering with the internal affairs of the country.
Moving the motion in the House of Lords, Conservative politician Henry Bellingham quizzed His Majesty's government on their plans as far as sanctions on Harare are concerned and begged to know whether plans are in place to follow the US in tightening conditions.
Responding to the question, Lord Ahmed maintained that current sanctions just target four individuals excluding the economy of Zimbabwe and refused to comment further.
"We note the US's recent steps and continue to engage closely with our US partners. We continue to keep all sanctions, designations and regimes under review and do not comment on any future sanctions plans," he said.
However, Lord Bellington begged the house not to let the veil of the war on Ukraine overshadow the world from the ills of injustices taking place in Zimbabwe.
"Indeed, having stolen last year's election, Emmerson Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF have harassed, threatened and imprisoned opposition figures, including the very brave Job Sikhala, closed down civil society, and undermined the rule of law.
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"There is no appetite in this House for economic sanctions, which would really bear down on the people of Zimbabwe, but surely we should now look at tighter and wider smart sanctions, targeted at the ZANU-PF Cabinet, their wives and their cronies.
"Surely the people of Zimbabwe, which was originally a net exporter of food, deserve better and a brighter future. Would the Minister agree?"
The under-pressure Lord Ahmed could not resist the pressure and revealed the UK is deeply seized by and concerned about the targeting of civil liberties.
He said despite engaging the government on the PVO Amendment Bill before the 2023 elections another feature the Patriotic Bill has also come on board.
"My noble friend will also be aware that the introduction of the global human rights sanctions regime in 2019 allows us to do exactly that: we can specifically target the people who commit egregious abuses of human rights rather than citizens or, indeed, a country," he said.
Lord St John of Blesto also submitted that the existing sanctions in Zimbabwe have not curbed President Mnangagwa's repressive regime and left a vacuum for the Chinese and the Russians, who are occupied in mining strategic minerals.
"Is it not time to convene an all-party parliamentary conference in Zimbabwe to help pave the way for the incumbent Government to be more inclusive and address the reduction of poverty for millions of long-suffering Zimbabweans?" he added.
