Foreign Office has ‘lost control’ says Tory in swipe at Johnson

THE Foreign Office has “lost control” of key policy areas, the chairman of Commons foreign affairs committee will say today, in what will be seen as a veiled criticism of Boris Johnson.

Tom Tugendhat believes the Foreign Office is no longer the “strategic engine of our foreign policy”, and believes it should be given more power, rather than trying to win a “tug-of-war” with other departments.

The Conservative MP, an outspoken critic of Mr Johnson in the past, believes it is time for a “revolution at the heart of government” that will give the Foreign Office responsibility for diplomacy, intelligence, defence, overseas aid, international trade and Brexit. In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, Mr Tugendhat will argue: “The success or failure of our foreign policy is now more important to the future

‘Foreign policy is now more important to our nation ... than at any time since the end of the Second World War’

health and prosperity of our nation than it has been at any time since the end of the Second World War.

“We need to make the Foreign Office the strategic engine of our foreign policy again.”

Mr Tugendhat, seen as a rising star in the Conservative Party who makes no secret of his desire to hold high office, believes that successive foreign secretaries, including Mr Johnson, have been “hobbled” because “they’ve had the title but they haven’t had the power”.

Mr Tugendhat believes the Foreign Office has “lost control of key aspects of overseas influence like trade and development and has been obliged to take part in a tug-of-war with the Cabinet Office over anything that involved national security and the EU”.

It means the Foreign Secretary’s powers have been eroded and that foreign policy “silos” have been created in different Whitehall departments, “reducing our ability to balance across areas of influence”.