A £1.8m aid jolly... enough to pay 100 nurses
THEY could be any group of tourists, posing happily for pictures during a visit to London.
But these visitors to the London Stadium, the main venue of the 2012 Olympics and now the home of West Ham United, are from some of the world’s wealthiest countries on a £10,000-a-head junket paid for out of our bloated foreign aid budget.
Hand-picked ‘future leaders’ from the US, Japan, and New Zealand are among those who have been hosted by the International Leaders Programme, which was introduced in 2013 and has cost the Foreign Office £1.8million to date – enough to pay 100 NHS nurses for a year. Among the treats, the ‘leaders’ have been taken to Downing Street, visited Kew Gardens and had a VIP tour of Burberry’s headquarters. But a blog by a New Zealand businessman, who enjoyed a visit to Britain under the scheme in 2015, revealed even some of those taking part were puzzled about why they had been invited. Andy Hamilton, 47, from Auckland, wrote: ‘Just finished a week in London as a guest of the Foreign Office with 13 others from politics, community and business from a highly diverse group of countries. Always difficult to understand in these situations why you were chosen.’ Mr Hamilton’s fellow future leaders were from countries such as Chile and the US. The Foreign Office paid for flights, accommodation and meals for the group. According to the Foreign Office, the scheme is designed to ‘connect and engage with up-and-coming leaders from emerging powers’ and create ‘a dynamic network of talented, influential people, working across key areas’.
But John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Our authorities really need to get their priorities right instead of spending money for the sake of it.’
The Foreign Office said: ‘The programme forges strong relationships between the UK and future foreign leaders, giving the UK a critical edge to secure our aims around the world.’