In defence of Western values and value for money, the UK should quit Unesco

extravagance, inefficiency and anti-Western bias. Although we rejoined in 1997, many of the same criticisms still stand. Ms Mordaunt’s department’s last Multilateral Development Review in 2016 described Unesco as “failing in its effectiveness and in its organisational capability”, with “systemic weaknesses in the management of core funding”. Its supporters contend that it has since changed for the better, but what pressure must it really face if threats to withdraw money are immediately slapped down as unvirtuous?

The argument for exiting Unesco is not solely about money. While the Unesco of the Eighties was said to have pro-Soviet biases, today it is charged with being anti-Israel, the reason why both the US and Israel are pulling out. Among Unesco’s misdeeds, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said last week, it has “denied the Jewish link to Judaism’s holiest site, cancelled an exhibition on the Jewish presence in Israel, [and] recognised the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Palestinian, omitting the Jewish connection.” In resolution after resolution, Unesco is accused of being misused by countries hostile to Israel to attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the Jewish state. Whatever your view of Israel, surely an agency meant to promote cultural cooperation is not the place to air it?

We won’t leave Unesco: save for a few brave ministers like Ms Mordaunt, our political class is too sensitive to accusations of being mean-spirited in a world where the appearance of principle is more important than the fact. Debate is narrowing disastrously. A country that was capable of making a stand in 1985 in defence of Western values and value for money now finds itself unable to do so.