All is not well over at the FCDO, where a large-scale headcount reduction is currently underway. Permanent secretary Olly Robbins said last month: “We still do not know what the overall numbers to leave the UK-based organisation will be over the next year or two.” The department is aiming for 25%. Morale is at rock-bottom…
Contributing to the sour atmosphere is wide discontent in diplomatic circles regarding the outsized influence of ex-Department for International Development staff in key roles. Everywhere from the FCDO’s supervisory board to diplomatic posts themselves…
DFID was merged with the Foreign Office in 2020. Foreign Office sources point out that former aid department officials are ensconced in top roles globally while FCO lifers are more often heading out of the door. They point the finger at High Commissioners, ambassadors, and consuls from Jerusalem to India, Peru, and Bangladesh coming from DFID. These appointments are still going on. Looks like merging DFID and FCO was another Tory error…
In the arcane world of British diplomacy this means top staff are more often than not coming from ‘outside.’ This can be a good thing, though under Labour perils of handing roles to non-diplomats are no better seen than in the Mandelson affair – the Washington Embassy continues to be in chaos…
Guido hears increasing numbers of frustrated diplomats are leaving entirely. If Reform gets into government the aid flunkeys will be in for a bit of a shock too…
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