At Last A Shake-up For Foreign Aid, The 'Cashpoint In Sky'

Boris Johnson has scrapped the ministry responsible for overseas aid in a dramatic overhaul of foreign policy.

- Macer Hall

The Prime Minister said the Department for International Development was seen around the world as a “giant cashpoint in the sky” that handed out money without regard to British interests or values.

It will be merged with the Foreign Office to create a Whitehall super department to improve how the country projects itself.

Mr Johnson told MPs: “This will unite our aid with our diplomacy.”

Work on merging the two Whitehall departments into the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will start now and is scheduled to be completed by September.

Government sources said the UK’s target of spending 0.7 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product on overseas aid will remain.

They said the aid budget, which hit £15.2billion last year, was likely to be slashed as GDP fell from the lockdown.