How can the government make a success of the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office?

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The prime minister’s announcement that DfID and the FCO will be merged into the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), is one of the biggest shake-ups of how the UK conducts foreign policy in decades. How will the merger affect the UK’s future foreign and development policy, particularly in the world of coronavirus? What are its implications for the aid budget? And how can the new organisation preserve the strengths of both its predecessor departments?

On the panel to discuss these questions were:

• Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Select Committee
• James Cowan, CEO of the HALO Trust
• Lord Kerr, former Permanent Under Secretary of State of FCO and British Ambassador to the US

The event was chaired by Tim Durrant, Associate Director at the Institute for Government.

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