Boris Johnson’s government has blamed the Covid crisis for its decision to cut its international aid budget, but is there more to it?
When David Cameron rose to become Conservative party leader, he set about identifying totemic policies that would show his party was changing. As well as promoting new thinking on the environment, he made an effort to highlight his commitment to overseas aid. When he was prime minister, his government signed a target of spending 0.7% of national income on foreign aid into law.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, tells Anushka Asthana that since the entry of Boris Johnson into Downing Street, the future of Britain’s aid budget has looked a lot less certain. He has folded the Department for International Development (Dfid) back into the Foreign Office and now has signed off on a budget that would slash the UK’s commitment to that 0.7% figure enshrined in law.
