HY does the Government persist in sending £ 8billion a year overseas in foreign aid when the majority of the public believes we should be spending the money on our own people and that most foreign aid is swallowed up by corrupt regimes?

The answer, according to a powerful new book from the Civitas think- tank, is that the Conservative Party uses foreign aid to present itself as “compassionate” and no longer the “nasty party”. In which case, says the author Jonathan Foreman, it is “one of the most expensive marketing campaigns in history”.

This scathing indictment of foreign aid policy argues that one- third of the budget should be handed over to the armed forces to ensure that Britain can mount effective emergency relief operations in the wake of global disasters, a type of aid that enjoys public support and is less vulnerable to waste and corruption.

The Department for International Development should be returned to the overall control of the Foreign Office and part of the budget should also fund the BBC World Service foreign language service, which is influential and promotes democracy abroad.

The report also says that the aid target of 0.7 per cent target of GDP should be abandoned and that the budget should be subject to the same austerity measures as other areas of spending.

This is radical, bracing stuff from an authoritative source. The Government would do well to study it carefully.