New development secretary Alok Sharma signals he will protect UK aid budget

Alok Sharma arriving for his first cabinet meeting
Alok Sharma arriving for his first cabinet meeting Credit: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg

New international development secretary Alok Sharma has signalled that he is committed to sticking with the UK’s contribution to foreign aid.

In a statement published on the day of his appointment to the Cabinet, Mr Sharma said he would work to deliver Brexit and “make sure UK aid is tackling global challenges” including climate change, disease and humanitarian disasters.

“Investing 0.7 per cent of [gross national income] on international development shows we are an enterprising, outward-looking and truly global Britain that is fully engaged with the world,” he said. 

The 51-year-old MP for Reading West is the third International Development Secretary this year – after Penny Mordaunt, who moved to defence in March, and Rory Stewart, who resigned earlier this week after saying he could not support Mr Johnson’s Brexit policy. There have been five in the last four years.

Mr Sharma is a newcomer to the aid brief and has not made any previous public pronouncements on the subject, but voted with David Cameron’s government when the bill enshrining the government’s commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on international development passed through the Commons.

Richard Benyon, an MP for neighbouring Newbury, told The Telegraph that he believed Mr Sharma was supportive of aid spending, describing him as a "one nation" Conservative.

“His skill in government is getting into the detail of policy and making things happen. He’s never really sought the limelight. He’s effective,” said Mr Benyon.

Alistair Burt, MP for North East Bedfordshire and a minister at the Department for International Development (Dfid) until March this year, told The Telegraph that Mr Sharma would be an “asset to a great department".

“He has performed excellently in his roles to date, and will bring solid administrative experience and stability to Dfid at a crucial time,” he said. 

But he added: “Too many secretaries of state in a short time is not helpful, so I hope his tenure is long, and his commitment to Dfid as a self-standing department is as strong as that of Penny Mordaunt and Rory Stewart.”

Mr Sharma’s appointment was also cautiously welcomed by the development community, who will have breathed a sigh of relief that Dfid was not immediately merged with another department.

The new prime minister – as well as international trade secretary Liz Truss and foreign secretary Dominic Raab – have all suggested that Dfid should either scrapped all together or merged with the Foreign Office.

In an interview with the Financial Times earlier this year Mr Johnson said:  “We can’t keep spending huge sums of British taxpayers’ money as though we were some independent Scandinavian NGO.”

David Westwood, World Vision UK’s director of policy and programmes, urged Mr Sharma to protect the department. 

“We know that aid is spent most effectively and transparently through Dfid, and we urge Mr Sharma to fight for it to remain an independent department. A messy and costly merger with the Foreign Office would lead to inefficient spending, unclear priorities, and a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Other NGOs called on Mr Sharma to ensure aid money was focused on poverty alleviation, rather than using it to serve the UK’s political or commercial interests. 

A spokesperson for Bond, which represents charities, said: “We urge the incoming Secretary of State for International Development to continue to champion a poverty-focused development agenda that supports the Sustainable Development Goals and works to reach the world’s poorest and most marginalised people.”

Alok Sharma greeted on arrival at DFID by Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft
Alok Sharma greeted on arrival at DFID by Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft Credit: Twitter/Alok Sharma

Mr Sharma was born in India, moving to Reading with his parents when he was five. He became an MP for Reading West in 2010 after a career in accounting and banking. In 2016 he entered government as minister for Asia and the Pacific in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office under Mr Johnson, who was then Foreign Secretary.

The father of two supported Mr Johnson in the leadership contest, writing a piece for Conservative Home saying he was “best placed” to lead the party and country.

He also said that “we must be prepared to leave at the end of October” – despite campaigning for Remain in the referendum – because never-ending negotiations would “sound the death knell of the Conservative Party as a major political force”.

Mr Benyon described him as a “great ally” of Mr Johnson. In 2017 he hosted an event where the then foreign secretary met a businessman named in the US Trump-Russia investigation. 

Mr Sharma was appointed Housing and Planning Minister in June 2017, just a week before the Grenfell fire took place – a tragedy which social housing insiders say “deeply shocked” him. 

In the months that followed, Mr Sharma led the government’s response to the fire that killed 72 people.

During a nationwide ‘tenant roadshow’, where he met thousands of people living in social housing, he impressed the housing community – arriving at round tables with little fanfare and “fully engaging” in discussions.

Mr Sharma had little experience in the housing sector before becoming a minister. 

But according to David Orr, who was chief executive of the National Housing Federation at the time, it was frustrating when the MP was moved to the Department for Work and Pensions just six months later. 

“I was disappointed when he was moved from the brief, as he had the potential to be a very good housing minister,” Mr Orr told The Telegraph. “I do think that he will be a good secretary of state.

“He is diligent and will listen carefully to try to understand the issues, bringing a reasonably open and enquiring mind to the table,” he said.

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