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Boris Johnson announces end of the foreign aid 'cashpoint' in the sky

The Telegraph understands that Dominic Raab will take direct control of the aid budget - Shutterstock
The Telegraph understands that Dominic Raab will take direct control of the aid budget - Shutterstock

Boris Johnson will use the £14 billion foreign aid budget to counter “Russian meddling” and protect national security after announcing he is to scrap the Department for International Development.

The Prime Minister said Britain’s aid spending would no longer be “some giant cashpoint in the sky” following a series of cases such as a multi-million-pound grant to an Ethiopian girl band.

He decided to merge Dfid with the Foreign Office and hand control of aid to Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, after losing patience with the way Dfid was allocating taxpayers’ cash.

Mr Johnson is expected to rip up rules governing aid spending, which are set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, when a government review reports back in the autumn.

Instead of sending money to countries such as China and India, both of which are wealthy enough to have their own space programmes, the money will be used to “maximise British influence” on the world stage, Mr Johnson said.

He will not, however, end Britain’s commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on foreign aid, which is enshrined in law.

The decision was welcomed by Tory backbenchers who have for years been calling for a fundamental review of the way aid money is spent. But it was attacked by three former prime ministers – Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron – who said it was a “mistake”. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, described it as a “distraction” in the midst of a national crisis. Mr Blair said: “I am utterly dismayed by the decision to abolish Dfid.”

In a statement to the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said Dfid, created by Mr Blair in 1997, was a relic of an era when China’s economy was smaller than Italy’s and coronavirus had not changed the world.

He also made clear his frustration at the fact that the department, run by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Development Secretary, has a budget four times the size of the Foreign Office but fails to use it to promote British interests. The move, which will appeal to the Tory grassroots, comes at a time when Mr Johnson is facing criticism from many of his MPs over the handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Toby Melville/Reuters
Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Toby Melville/Reuters

Announcing his plan, Mr Johnson said: “We give as much aid to Zambia as we do to Ukraine, though the latter is vital for European security. We give 10 times as much aid to Tanzania as we do to the six countries of the western Balkans, who are acutely vulnerable to Russian meddling.

“And, regardless of the merits of these decisions, no single department is currently empowered to judge whether they make sense or not: we tolerate an inherent risk of our left and right hands working independently.”

Mr Johnson went on: “For too long, frankly, UK overseas aid has been treated as some giant cashpoint in the sky that arrives without any reference to UK interests or to the values that the UK wishes to express or the priorities, diplomatic, political or commercial, of the Government.”

A review of aid spending, led by Prof John Bew, a member of the No10 policy unit, is expected to recommend abandoning the rules on aid spending set by the OECD, a membership group of 37 wealthy nations.

They dictate the countries to which aid can be given, how it can and cannot be spent, and what proportion of money should go to countries with differing levels of poverty. Even within the current rules, the Government has leeway to spend more money on countries that are strategically important.

Mr Johnson said it was “extraordinary” that Dfid and the Foreign Office had not been merged earlier, pointing out that the majority of OECD countries had done so. The new department will be called the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and will be run by Mr Raab.

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