Take a positive, close look at the world and what do you see?
This certainly seems unexpected. Old friends are unreliable, and the rules no longer apply. For many, the global neighbourhood is clearly becoming scary.
But don’t take my word for it. Listen to the head of Britain’s intelligence agency, MI6.
“The front line is everywhere,” says Blaise Metreveli, who warned of “the dangers of aggression, expansionism” in a recent speech. Russia is also an aggressive and expansionist nation.
Several military leaders have echoed their concerns. Richard Knighton, chief of the British defence staff, said, “The situation is more dangerous than I have seen in my career.”
“The response requires more than strengthening our armed forces.”
Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper arriving at Munich Airport, Germany. Photo: PA
Experts of the Foreign Office – including its embassies and consulates abroad – play a vital role in the country’s security blanket, and the woman in charge says she gets it.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced the formation of a “State Threat Unit” along with other initiatives to defend the UK in a world of “increasing hybrid threats”.
However, what senior officials are not talking about are the government’s plans to cut the workforce to deal with these threats.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (to use its full name) will be replaced with a new restructuring plan called FCDO 2030.
The process will result in the loss of approximately 2,000 jobs or up to 25% of the total workforce – with cuts of up to 40% expected in some London-based departments.
One employee said, “The atmosphere in some departments is depressing, even rebellious. There is very little trust in the senior leadership of this organization.”
Sky News’s Deborah Haynes discusses Sir Keir Starmer’s speech at the Munich Security Conference.
One staff member compared the environment at the Foreign Office to the dystopian film The Hunger Games, where employees are forced to compete for a dwindling number of positions.
The PCS trade union, representing staff at the Foreign Office, described the situation as “messy.”
“We have seen no justification for these cuts and have not yet been told what work the senior leadership has deemed disposable,” a PCS official said.
Interestingly, those senior leaders – including the minister in charge of international development – have made it clear that they will rely on the expertise of their own staff as they attempt to make massive funding cuts to programs in the international aid budget.
“The shift from grants to expertise is quite fundamental,” Development Minister Baroness Chapman announced to members of a parliamentary committee.
“Our influence is not about the size of our (direct spending) program... it is much more about our diplomatic work, our political relations, and our role in the multilateral arena.”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper with Norwegian Foreign Minister Barth Eade in January. Photo: PA
Serious challenges are emerging in the multilateral arena. Britain can no longer unite with EU members – nor rely on its relationship with the US to get what it wants. Instead, he must sacrifice his well-being for power and influence.
The man effectively driving these cuts, Permanent Under-Secretary of State Sir Oliver Robbins, told MPs that he was following the mandate set by former Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who saw the Foreign Office as unfocused, overly burdensome and “not strategic enough.”.
Yet in discussions with MPs, Robbins appeared to accept that some of the best people would succeed.
“We’re working hard to ensure that we agree on the highly skilled talent we need at various seniority levels.”
Outrage has greeted the job losses.
MPs on the International Development Committee have described the cuts as “brutal,” and in an interim report, they have called for the plan to be “immediately halted.”
“Lives would be at risk, not to mention the real risk to Britain’s global reputation,” stated Sarah Champion, the chair of the committee. If we lose the invaluable FCDO expertise, it will be irreversible.
However, Sky News has learned that Robbins dismissed those criticisms during a recent “town hall” meeting between staff and the Foreign Office.
A PCS union official said, “Ignoring parliamentary committee recommendations like this is unheard of.”
Rory Stewart criticises the government by stating, “We spend more on Kent County Council than on our foreign policy.”
Perhaps the most forceful defence of the country’s diplomatic corps has come from a former minister, Rory Stewart, who has been highly critical of the government he served.
“In 2015, the situation was miserable, even 10 years ago when we were dismantling the Foreign Office and much of our foreign infrastructure.” The Foreign Office was half the size of the French counterpart. We spend more on Kent County Council than on our foreign policy.”
Stewart says the current Labour administration is headed down the same dangerous path.
“We are creating a chaotic situation where we have exaggerated our soft power and mistakenly believe that we can defend ourselves with only a few aircraft carriers that lack protection and a few large nuclear weapons that have no surrounding defence.”
In response to our reporting on FCDO 2030, a Foreign Office spokesperson said, “FCDO is changing to be more agile and focused so we can work for the UK in a rapidly changing world.
“This is part of wider government reforms that are beneficial for the British people and ensure value for money for taxpayers while maintaining our world-leading expertise in diplomacy and development.”
