Britain’s soft power and impact investing is giving way to something more hard-nosed and political

Staff at the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) were caught by surprise on June 16 when prime minister Boris Johnson announced their ministry would be merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to create a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

“What a day,” sighed one DfID staff member. There had been rumors about such a move for some time, but they largely died down after Anne-Marie Trevelyan was named secretary of State for International Development in February.

Also caught out were aid and development agencies, who denied Johnson’s claim in parliament that there had been “massive consultation over a long period” ahead of the decision. In subsequent days, former prime ministers, foreign secretaries and international development secretaries from the two main parties lined up to criticize the move, as have myriad voices from the development community.

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