Lord Browne of Ladyton
Main Page: Lord Browne of Ladyton (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Northover. It is an equal pleasure to have the opportunity to join in the thanks and congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, on securing this debate and her opening of it. I also join in the congratulations to my noble friends Lady Hyde of Bemerton and Lord Barber of Chittlehampton on excellent maiden speeches. The best compliment I can give them is that it took them only five minutes to get the ear of your Lordships’ House; that is quite an achievement.
On addressing your Lordships’ House for the final time before my retirement, as I am doing today, I feel not merely the traditional mixed feelings, but a positive cacophony of discordant emotions. First, of course, comes immense gratitude to all the staff of this House—doorkeepers, Library, catering and facilities teams, clerks and innumerable others—whose work makes this place function, and makes the work of those fortunate enough to be Members of this place an enormous pleasure as well as a privilege.
Secondly, there is sadness in leaving behind so many excellent colleagues from across your Lordships’ House, and in no longer being able to lay one’s hand on not merely an answer to any conceivable question but one often provided by a noble Lord or noble Baroness whose life’s work has afforded them expertise of unparalleled depth.
There is also a now faint but none the less enduring surprise at the turns of a political career that led me into the other place somewhat unexpectedly in 1997 and gave me the honour of serving in several ministerial and Cabinet posts, including as Secretary of State for Defence. The wise counsel I received from distinguished military officers and the extraordinary example of our service men and women will always remain my outstanding memories of public service. Then, in 2010, I was asked to serve in your Lordships’ House by the then Prime Minister, which I accepted—on the proviso, I have to say, that I could vote for reform of this place and, potentially, for my own abolition.
In that cacophony, my predominant emotion in making these final remarks is trepidation, not for myself but for the direction in which geopolitical currents are pulling us. In considering the situation when I entered the other place, and surveying the world today, there is no question that the values for which Britain stands and the system of international norms that guaranteed their long continuity face far more entrenched and concerted challenge. The question of how we face this situation is implicit in the Motion before your Lordships’ House this afternoon.
As I have had occasion to say during previous proceedings, it is clear that our strategic adversaries plan to fill any vacuum left by a western retreat from global engagement. In this context, aid matters for three reasons. First, we have a humanitarian duty to help those suffering from appalling poverty, conflict, natural disasters or climate change. Secondly, we are, in the long-term, defined by what we do as a country rather than by our aspirations. Thirdly, even by the most cynical calculus of self-interest, foreign aid enhances the UK’s soft power and promotes peace. It makes conditions less fertile for terrorism and, in some cases, keeps frozen conflicts from kindling into flame. In this sense, foreign aid should be defined as national security spending, rather than just as empathy translated into hard currency.
In addition, foreign aid and development partnership assistance often functions as an early-warning system, alerting us to the prospect of an outbreak of conflict or terrorist violence. While USAID is shuttered and all major European powers, including the UK, cut aid budgets and retrench, what are our adversaries doing?
This year marks the 70th anniversary of Chinese engagement with the African continent. This celebration will, in effect, amplify the influence they have secured through debt diplomacy and see the unfolding of a well-financed programme—two years in the planning—of initiatives to boost their soft power.
Russia is also seeking to fill the vacuum created by the retreat of the western powers. Its Africa Corps provides military and security support in Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mali; its state-owned energy company has co-operation agreements with more than 20 African nations and nuclear agreements with five; and Russian Railways has been retained by five African nations.
While the BBC World Service has discontinued its Arabic broadcasting and the Voice of America sheds most of its staff, Sputnik Radio replaces it—remarkably, in one case at least, on the very same frequency abandoned by the BBC. It has a new editorial hub in Ethiopia, broadcasting in French, English, Amharic and other languages. The voice of democracy, pluralism and liberalism is being muffled and replaced by a narrative designed to erode confidence in Britain and its allies. That cannot be seen as anything other than a retreat, however necessary the fiscal decisions were that have necessitated it.
If the rules-based international order is not dead, it is certainly moribund. To extend that medical metaphor a little further, it is clear that the only hope of alleviation in the medium term lies in a transplant—replacing the current occupant of the White House with another. However, we have to concede that it is likely that this era of great power competition will outlast President Trump. In that context, I believe our soft power is something we cannot afford to sacrifice. I welcome the Government’s commitment to restoring ODA spending to 0.7% when circumstances allow, but given that the Independent Commission for Aid Impact estimates that it could fall to as low as 0.24% by 2027, we must be clear about what it is we are sacrificing. The humanitarian impact of ODA cuts was explored a couple of weeks ago in your Lordships’ House, so I need not press that any further, but we are also sacrificing a key strategic advantage.
I said earlier that I feel trepidation when looking at the global picture, and I am conscious that I have painted a somewhat bleak picture, but a precondition of a genuinely optimistic prognosis is a clear-eyed and sober diagnosis. I am optimistic because the UK has enormous cultural capital, and a record of extraordinary scientific innovation and sustained military and diplomatic excellence. But we are a medium-sized power in a world of great power competition. That is a difficult path to walk, but in my retirement, I will be trusting in the surefootedness of my noble friends on the Front Bench and colleagues from all sides of the House.
I began by thanking the staff of the House and the doorkeepers who were there to wave me in when I was elevated to your Lordships’ House in 2010. In my 16 years in your Lordships’ House, I have been afforded the opportunity to work towards multilateral nuclear disarmament, and to advocate for net zero and, I hope, for greater equity and inclusion across a swathe of government policy in a way that would otherwise have been impossible. As the doorkeepers of your Lordships’ House wave me out today, I am, and will remain, grateful for those many doors that membership of your Lordships’ House has opened for me.