PM attempts to ‘oust’ Commonwealth leader
‘By virtue of being elevated to that position she has to be neutral – she can’t just be Britain’s stooge’
THE Prime Minister is attempting to oust a Labour peer as Commonwealth secretary-general as he formally backs her Jamaican rival.
In a highly unusual move, Boris Johnson has lent his support to Kamina Johnson-smith, the Jamaican foreign minister, as his preferred candidate.
She is standing against Baroness Scotland of Asthal, a former Labour minister, who holds the post and is running for a second term. Writing on Twitter, the PM said: “With a month to go until the Commonwealth comes together in Rwanda, delighted to confirm the UK will support [Ms Johnson-smith’s] campaign to be the next secretary general.” He said she has “the vast experience and support to unite our unique family of nations and seize the opportunities ahead”.
The UK currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Commonwealth, and Labour has pointed out that Downing Street should therefore remain neutral in the upcoming elections.
An ally of Lady Scotland said: “This is definitely an attempt to oust her. The Government doesn’t like her. They have been trying to make her life hell, they have even withheld money from her. It has been rather unpleasant.”
Mr Johnson’s endorsement of the rival candidate follows rumours that the Government has been trying for years to unseat Lady Scotland, who has been embroiled in a series of controversies since taking office in 2016.
The former attorney general is accused of spending almost £30,000 redecorating her grace-and-favour apartment in London’s Mayfair, and faces allegations she offered a contract to a Labour peer by circumventing the usual tendering process. She denied wrongdoing in both cases.
Ministers have since confirmed that the renovation budget had been set prior to her appointment, while external auditors later found she followed procedures correctly in relation to tendering.
In 2020, Britain suspended its £4.7million annual contribution to the Commonwealth Secretariat because of concerns over its financial procedures. It also had its funding cut off by New Zealand and Australia. A Commonwealth Secretariat spokesman said: “Members states are currently paying their full amount into the Commonwealth. This came after full and thorough audits of the secretariat which gave us a clean bill of health which satisfied their concerns. Every year the Secretary General has been in office the Secretariat has received a clean audit.”
David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said Mr Johnson’s endorsement of the Jamaican candidate was “unseemly and divisive”.
He said no chairing nation had ever endorsed a candidate for general secretary “in the Commonwealth’s history”.
Richard Moir, an international relations, security and Commonwealth specialist, said: “The Government feels that the British foreign policy agenda is not adequately reflected in what the Commonwealth is trying to do. But Lady Scotland has become an international civil servant and by virtue of being elevated to that position she has to be neutral. She can’t just be Britain’s stooge.”
By convention, the current Commonwealth secretary-general, would be standing unopposed as the organisation has never challenged an incumbent seeking a second four-year term.
But two years ago, her automatic reelection was blocked after Mr Johnson canvassed fellow heads of state.
The 54 leaders would have decided Lady Scotland’s future at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in June 2020 but the meeting was postponed because of the pandemic.
The summit is due to take place next month in Rwanda, meaning that if Lady Scotland is replaced she will have served one and a half terms overall.