Foreign Office policy of Global Britain is 'superficial rebranding'

The Foreign Office’s post-Brexit policy of “Global Britain” is a meaningless slogan, currently underpinned by no clear political, strategic or funding analysis, MPs have said.

A report from the foreign affairs select committee said that unless the FCO assembles a new policy that “goes beyond a superficial rebranding exercise, the UK risks damaging its reputation overseas and eroding support for a global outlook in the UK itself”.

The MPs on the committee repeatedly asked for an FCO analysis setting out the thinking behind the phrase and were exasperated with the memorandum eventually provided by the department, which they described as “little more than a continuation of the FCO’s current activities, with modest adjustments.”

The report said no minister was able to provide a definitive explanation of what the phrase meant or how to measure whether its objectives were being met.

Expert witnesses to the committee’s inquiry, including a former permanent secretary at the FCO, Sir Simon Fraser, were unclear “what Global Britain means, what it stands for or how its success should be measured,” the report said. Fraser told the committee he feared the FCO had so far produced only “mushy thinking” and “simplistic words”.

The chair of the committee, Tom Tugenhadt, rapidly becoming a thorn in the side of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said the government needed to set out what the policy meant.

Source: theguardian