Cutting the Foreign Office

Rachael

Cuts are not necessary.

Scrap the entire Arabist propaganda unit and start again after everyone there now has been kicked out.

Sally Chatterjee

Rather than cut selectively, surely it's better to cut across the board. Give the FCO a reduced budget and let it decide where to apply the scalpel. It would be nice if each Cabinet minister overseas this in each of their departments.

I'd even cut the NHS, starting with the lavish GP pay award or fire the weakest 10% of managers for example.

Danko

JEESEUS!

JohnPage

If the FCO has signed us up to an EU diplomatic service, why do we need to pay twice for all those locations?

Hysteria

John Page - that thought was going through my mind as well - why have ANY embassies in the EU?

Viv Evans

Those cuts are far too timid!
One consulate-general in each EU country is sufficient, and there are quite a few others on other continents which could do with some severe pruning!

Alun Reynolds

You bored or something? Got nothing to do? Nothing serious to report?

J Willey

I fear you are falling into the classic bureaucrats' trap. As soon as the c*** word is mentioned they translate it into how many teachers / schools / nurses / hospitals / soldiers will get axed. ALWAYS the frontline services, NEVER how many policy officers / equality advisors / internal consultants / telephone sanitisation executives etc etc you could chop without anyone noticing.

It is a major long term error to drop representation from smaller nations, just because they don't currently seem that important. For example the UK is no longer represented in Tonga, the Chinese have just built a big shiny new embassy there, I wonder why?

Where there is surely scope for savings is in some consular services, we used to co-operate with Commonwealth nations there and could do so again and with the EU. It really doesn't matter what the nationality of the poor diplomat who has to go and visit the drunks in jail on Sunday morning is!

Ronnie

Yes, you are quite right. We should disengage from any contact we have with the outside world. Who needs it? Especially when we retain our troop committments overseas and may need information on what is going on there (overseas) from time to time.

Catesby

While generally sympathetic to some cuts, I can't help feeling that too pared down a service will not be conducive to either national prestige or the convenience of Britons doing business abroad.

I'm rarely ashamed of my country, but I was when I read this on the Lonely Planet site:

There is a British honorary consulate in Bishkek (it's located in the basement of Fatboy's restaurant, although it moves frequently so it might be somewhere else by now). It only seems to be staffed by one person. I emailed him a few times about getting a letter ... He seems pretty useless, and he had to forward all my questions to his superiors in Moscow - neither he nor them seemed to know what a Letter of Introduction was. ...I gave up and left Bishkek.

AlexM

Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga & Tuvalu don't have UK representation. They are covered from the embassy in Suva, Fiji.

Philip Walker

Anyone like to hazard a guess as to the reason for all those consulates in Italy? Nothing to do with cushy postings in desirable locations, is it?

But... but...

How the hell am I supposed to read my British newspapers when I'm abroad if you're closing the embassies!?

Maggie

The Foreign Office could save a lot of money by making it clear to Tony and Cherie Blair that they are private citizens now and their assumption that they have a right to free accommodation and hospitality in British Embassies round the world is wrong.

The Oncoming Storm

Why do we have 2 consulates in Shanghai?

saddleworth

Isn't the whole reality of cuts that there are of no help unless there is a huge outcry and much condemnation?
On the basis that there must be an outcry start radical. Don't think about what we are doing but what we have to do and then dump the rest.
Withdrawing ambassadors from all EU countries would be a good start but then take a view on what diplomatic and consular activities are essential to our interests and scrap the rest. After that look at the FCO in London and remove any information gathering function that can't be covered by reading a handful of magazines. A good rule of thumb would also be to divide by 10 any staffing figure that is claimed as necessary for Press and PR.
We have afterall withdrawn from Empire some time ago

General Zod

Why have you left so many in Italy?

Yam Yam

What? Axe the consulate in Heraklion? What on Earth will all those sozzled young Brits do now when the local police in Malia bang them up for mooning at the locals?

Marcher Baron

Now we have Baroness Whatzername as EU Foreign Secretary, why don't we shut ALL our embassies/consulates and rely on their facilities. The EU does have some, doesn't it? Otherwise, there would be no point in having a Foreign Secretary, surely? Or is it just another excuse to have a nose in the trough?

Nick

The British Embassy and the Consulate Office in Tokyo are on the same site. And the CG office is very small.

The Embassy deals with governmental issues (trade etc) and the CG is for ex-pats to go and get their passport renewed and Japanese citizens to apply for visas.

You can't shut the CG down and save any money. It only employs a few local staff anyway.

You might consider sub-letting the swimming pool and tennis court though. Though I doubt the Embassy staff would be pleased. Unfortunately these can't be sold as the UK didn't buy its very valuable Embassy site when offered teh chance at the time of the Meiji Restoration. Shame. It could probably fund the entire FO for decades if sold, as the Australians managed a few years ago.

Cuffleyburgers

Dear old korski forever banging the federasts' drum.

Oddly some of your suggestions make sense but I have no doubt that any savings we make will be swallowed up by increased contributions to cover the cost of the awful "Lady" Ashton's hubristic extravaganza - which by the way is certain not to represent British interests in any meaningful way whatsoever, so if you're looking for savings, why not simply refuse to pay the EU?

Dorothy Wilson

Cuffyburgers: I've just had a quick look at Open Europe's site and apparently there is a possibility that we'll be touched for £7bn, or more, to bail out the Greek economy - and, of course, save the euro.

Scary Biscuits

Ronnie, are you really so stupid to think that cutting some Embassies is the equivalent of 'withdrawing from the world'? It's exactly that sort of thinking over the last 10 years that has seen the cost of government spiral out of control whilst in many cases effectiveness has declined. Look at the FSA for example. After the crash Brown increased their headcount as though the reason the banks had gone wrong was because the FSA didn't have enough people. A more sensible approach would have been to have fired the whole lot and instead employed just half a dozen. If you chose the right people they would be more effective than the thousands now employed by the FSA. As with Embassies, more doesn't necessarily mean better.

Similarily, we need to get away from the notion that the size of the FO is important. Instead it is the quality of individuals recruited that matters far more than the number of them.

Naomi Muse

Well, haven't you been busy with the black pen cutting out more padding than an overly earnest sub ed on a bad day.

What happens to the money saved?

Can't we save more money by refusing to pay the EU until the auditors will sign off the accounts?

We should certainly not pay to cover EU embassies when they won't be representing us, unless, of course Lady Ashton should be based in Heraklion to deal with the brits abroad.

djw2009

you need to cut the London staff, rather than cut back on the embassies. Also all those grants to the British Council etc can be deleted.

AAE

It's not at all obvious to me what we would miss if the FCO was closed tomorrow. Can anyone think off-hand of any of it's achievements? Whilst it's failures, Northern Ireland and the Falklands spring to mind, show it to be not only an anti-British apologist, but to implement policies directly at odds with those of the elected government. On the other hand, British writers (past and present), publishers, actors, singers, orchestras and choirs, scientists, sportsmen, architects and so on, are in demand in the best places the world over, and it is their beneficent influence which knocks the FCO's malign battle for hearts and minds into a cocked-hat.

Moraymint

Good grief! I'm astonished that a nation like ours - wrecked as it is after 12 years of unreconstructed socialism; sliding down every league table of international performance that you care to mention - has so many foreign office types sprinkled so liberally around the globe.

Talk about presumptious, or what?

Ah, the price we're now paying for decades of political incompetence, rounded off nicely with a Marxist flourish to see us disappear ignomously down the pan.

Oh, how we need a revolution, eh?

Hysteria

Moraymint

you will be pleased to know that the Drumoak redoubt is coming on well with a two foot thick granite and concrete external perimeter, firing positions and cleared fields of view and fire in every direction.

Sadly it is on a forward slope so just need directions to your bunker in case I need to beat a hasty retreat!

Moraymint

Hysteria: remember, we never retreat; we withdraw.

Jarndyce

A double saving could be made by closing down the British Council. Not only does it get a massive subvention, closed contracts, diplomatic status, civil service pensions and (outrageously) charitable status at the same time, it also undermines genuine taxpaying enterprise, alienating business both home and abroad.

daniel wickham

As a redundant member of consular staff I guess I can stick my oar in and say that consular work is not about bailing out stupid drunks but assisting someone in real distress. Iīve worked 20 years in Spain and have seen so many people helped that I think it is ludicrous to talk about what you donīt know. I agree that a lot of money could be saved if the staff employed were not sent from the UK but contracted abroad as the majority are at a third of the cost of a diplomat and with no frills. I just hope those of you who have an accident, get raped, beaten up, wrongfully arrested, are robbed of money and passport or get very sick will remember that is what we are there for. Pink gins exist(Embassy parties etc could be got rid of, as many perks which are the real cost to the taxpayer) but take away a friend in need and you will notice!

Ex Vice Consul Locally Engaged.

John

Your criteria are not that far off, actually. Funny thing is that most of the cuts you suggest (i.e. to small Consulates) have essentially already been made. Virtually all of the consulates (e.g. in the smaller cities of Italy, Spain, US etc) are staffed entirely by local hires. To all intents and purposes the consular work has already been "outsourced" (and probably at a cheaper cost than contracting the work out to the private sector). Some of the other cuts you suggest (e.g. in the South Pacific) are, as has already been mentioned, to posts that exist in name only - they are serviced out of Fiji. The deeper integration of the EU has, as many commented, also led to a Europe-wide set of cuts to the traditional big embassies (quite rightly). Rome, for example, now has (I think) only four diplomatic staff doing the politics (Ambassador, 1st Secretary, 2 x Third Secretary). Lashkar Gar has three times that number. The right balance. There aren't two consulates general in Shanghai. That's a typo, I presume. Some of your other choices are more controversial - the embassy in Bogota is almost entirely staffed by Met Police and other types who are doing anti-drugs smuggling. Personally I don't think you can ever stop the drugs trade at the supply end and the sensible thing to do would be to legalise - is that your thinking? I expect there will be more closures of diplomatic posts in the years to come. But, as I say, worth being aware that the majority of "cuts" you propose were essentially made years ago.

Kim O'Hara

Fair enough, but we also need to open Deputy High Commissions, perhaps surreptitiously in the interests of security, across Pakistan's North West Frontier in Peshawar, North and South Waziristan, Bajaur and Quetta.

Ronnie

Well, Scary Biscuits, I'm sure that if you go back to the top of this thread you will see that we are talking about British embassies. That is not to say that your thoughts on the FSA are not interesting and challenging in their own right.

You may well be correct in what you say about embassy staff numbers however overall numbers are, to some extent, governed by the number of countries with whom we would like to have effective diplomatic and commercial relationships. I am quite sure that for a number of regular contributers here the answer would be a resounding 'none'. However, I still regard these extensive contacts as worthwhile.

In this case I think that less is simply...less.

Incidentally, thank you for calling me stupid in your first sentence. Good manners are so important, aren't they?

Ronnie

Jarndyce, I'd be very grateful if you could outline the enterprising business, home and abroad, that is alienated by the work of the British Council.

Charlie

Cut DIFID and give money to Action Aid and water Aid, as they actually undertake practical work.

The Masked Marvel

Don't forget the nearly £300 million the BBC gets from the FO.

workie ticket

Regarding savings on our overseas spend, DFID should be virtually closed down unless Aid money is conditional on either contracts being given to UK firms and/or at least the recipent votes our way in the UN...talking of which...

Albert

You've grossly miscalculated the recent turn of geopolitical and economic climate in the Pacific by axing the High Commission in Port Moresby......

Albert Tobby

Daniel Korski, You've grossly miscalculated the recent turn of geopolitical and economic climate in the South Pacific region by axing the British High Commission in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea....

The Secret Diplomat

The cuts that have taken place in our embassies have already damaged British interests.

If you were a business person looking to invest in the UK (or visit to look at opportunities) your visa application now has to be in English and is processed in New York. If they make a mistake, as they often do, then their application is sent back and they can only visit a website to complain. Not surprisingly a large number of angry genuine business people are wondering what the hell is going on, and demanding attention from our embassies. The embassy response? Go to the website.

If Britain is going to pull itself out of recession quickly it will be because of international trade and new markets for our products and services developing. Instead of closing our embassies (which cost peanuts in government spending terms) we shoudl beef them up and give them a much clearer brief to promote and grow British business.

Bin 'climate change' teams and 'change management teams' (honestly) and give every Ambassador a simple brief to boost the business relationship, attract investment, attract fee-paying foreign students, and promote tourism.

That would work. Heseltine had the same idea when he was at the DTI, let's bring it back...

Eric

I think the cuts suggested by Daniel Korski are pretty sensible on the whole. Some of the embassies and consulates have no doubt become the private fiefdoms of various forces within the FCO. Just occasionally, I would dispute the reductions. For instance, Barcelona is symbolic of perhaps the most dynamic part of the Spanish economy (which has some worrying economic statistics), i.e. Catalonia. And maybe Moldova could be encouraged not to remain a failed state by a British presence there. But otherwise, Britain has either got to go back to 19th century imperialism (impossible for ideological, economic, and geo-political reasons) or has to shed a lot of the expensive trappings of an erstwhile colonial power.

Vernon Scarborough

The author has not done his homwork well,and my guess is out of touch with the realities of the situation. Many of the Posts such as Nauru,Tuvalu,Vanuatu,Tonga,Perth, Auckland and Brisbane he mentions are either non- resident Posts with no FCO or staff or have in the case of the Australian and New Zealand Posts already been localised or closed altogether. Further Post economies will simply lead to more centralisation at larger centres but in my experience generally not cost effective or efficient. For instance one has to wait 6 weeks for a straight forward British passport renewal in USA since centralisation of the procedures. Hardly a good move!
If Daniel really wished to save money he should be thinking unilaterally. If within the EU we look after each others Nationals why bother with extended Consular Services in Europe; why operate multi-facetted Trade services in USA, most companies can obtain information/market reports/agency info etc (all currently offered by the UK Business Department and Trade Officers based in USA) from US Consultants and they speak the mother tongue. It all boils down to you get what you are willing to pay for in an age where more and more people are travelling.

Combined EU Posts are unworkable when it comes to many Trade and Political interests of our EU partners. Does one plug British when up against strong French or German interests. A minefield. One has to only look at the controversial appointment of the first EU foreign Secretary who cannot speak one other EU language and appears out of her depth.

Pistolpete

you haven't mentioned all of the British Council offices overseas that could be closed, shouldn't the BC & FCO share offices.

OurManIn

I'm not surprised by some of the comments here. Many of you do not understand what happens in some missions overseas. They do not all have the same infrastructure. Political, Consular, Visa, Trade, Defence, Aid etc are but a few roles within. Reduce too far and see how expensive it will be to replace the functions later.
Note: You cannot recruit locally in every country.

The art of diplomacy is changing and believe me it is for the worse. People may not like it but the old school "behind doors discussions" achieved much more than the modern day sound biting that goes on today by Governments.

Consular work is - essential however there are a number of people who do nothing to help themselves e.g. take out travel insurance, take saftey measures as they would in the UK Or fill in the next of kin data on the back page of their passport.

As for Passports and Visas.
Brits have been spoilt for so long. Not many countries provided a same day passport service in their Embassies when we did. And many countries dont even tell you why your visa has been refused.