Do we agree with the overseas development minister, Andrew Mitchell, that we should take
as much pride in our massive overseas aid budget as we do in the Queen and the Armed Forces? Mitchell has announced that he intends to make Britain a “world superpower” of development
money. I’m not sure quite what this means. I suppose he is suggesting that our largesse will be welcomed by the third world predatory elites who siphon off the donations, the deranged
dictators, the warlords, and so on. And that perhaps they might feel kindly towards us as a consequence.
Overseas aid has become one of those subjects where debate is pointless. It does not matter how many times the likes of Peter Mandelson bemoan the fact that most overseas aid is a gigantic waste of money (which is a bit bloody rich coming from him, frankly), or it is shown that in many cases aid actually makes situations worse, the budget can never be cut because that would be seen as a “right wing” thing to do, and nobody wants to appear right wing.
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