Devex: DFID could remain a stand-alone department but lose its secretary of state
“…After the Conservative Party won a landslide victory in December’s election, speculation mounted that a newly empowered Prime Minister Boris Johnson would merge DFID with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office — which it was spun out of 23 years ago — as part of a mooted restructuring of the civil service. Amid strong opposition from U.K. civil society — as well as members of Johnson’s own party — several newspapers reported this week that the plan had been dropped, to the relief of aid advocates. … But the celebrations were short-lived, as just 24 hours later, The Times newspaper reported that while DFID will remain as a stand-alone department, responsibility for it could be taken away from Secretary of State for International Development Alok Sharma — whose post would be scrapped — and handed to the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab. While many aid advocates see this as preferable to eliminating the department completely, it still raises fears about what it would mean for the quality and poverty focus of U.K. aid…” (Abrahams, 1/10).