Description
This paper is based on a chapter from a monograph tracing the rise and fall of overseas aid under the UK Conservative Party 2010-20. This presentation examines the period during which the final pillars of Conservative support for UK global leadership in aid policy - a separate Department for International Development (DFID) and the 0.7% of GNI spending target - were dismantled. Based on new analysis of parliamentary debates, it traces narratives and policy actions from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s June 2020 announcement merging DFID with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, through Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s November 2020 decision to reduce aid spending to 0.5%, to the unsuccessful parliamentary rebellion attempting to overturn the cut in July 2021. Against the fiscal pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic, affordability became the dominant justification for reform, reinforced by claims about limited public support for aid spending and the need to align with international peers. With Johnson newly-elected and commanding a large majority, electoral risk played little role in shaping decisions. Analysis of the debates shows a sharp turn towards framing aid in terms of cost, public backing, and national interest. These shifts marked a fundamental reorientation of Conservative aid policy, with lasting consequences even beyond Conservative administration.
