Global Britain and the 2018 Commonwealth Summit Contents

2The FCO’s Commonwealth policy

Rejuvenating the Commonwealth

10.When Lord Hague became Foreign Secretary in 2010, he pledged to “put the ‘C’ back into FCO” and later vowed to place the organisation “back at the very heart of British foreign policy”.8 When Lord Ahmad appeared before us in February, we asked him if this had actually happened. He agreed that the Commonwealth had been neglected by Government and that there had been “other priorities”. He subsequently added: “I believe we have under-leveraged our relationship. We have not availed ourselves of the opportunities that the Commonwealth offers”.9 On the same day, the Minister of State told the House of Lords: “The Commonwealth is desperately underleveraged in terms of what it brings together in common languages, common history, common cultures and common opportunities for the future”.10 Similarly, when the Foreign Secretary appeared before us on 21 March, he said that the Commonwealth had been “undervalued by this country—not by other Commonwealth members—over the past 50 years”.11

11.Lord Ahmad and the Foreign Secretary have both stressed on several occasions that one of the clearest goals of the Summit for the UK is to boost intra-Commonwealth trade, along with a number of other specific priorities, such as gender equality and girls’ education, the resilience of small island states and ocean sustainability. The Government has also made clear, however, that beyond this, one of the goals of ‘Global Britain’ after the Summit is the long-term rejuvenation of the Commonwealth. For example, in a statement on Commonwealth Day 2017, the Prime Minister said that the UK had a long-standing commitment to the Commonwealth values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law and that,

In hosting the Commonwealth Summit next year, the UK is committed to working with all members not only to reaffirm these shared values, but also to re-energise and revitalise the Commonwealth to cement its relevance to this and future generations. As we look to create a truly global Britain, the deep partnerships that we share through a 21st century Commonwealth can help us strengthen the prosperity and security of our own citizens, and those of our many friends and allies across the world.12

12.In September 2017, the Prime Minister hosted a reception for Commonwealth leaders at the UN General Assembly, at which she said that the aim of the Summit could be encapsulated as “towards a common future”. She added:

So I hope that we can come together as a Commonwealth family and seize the opportunity to drive forward the necessary reforms. The prize, if we succeed in this collaborative effort will be a rejuvenated Commonwealth, better able to answer the aspirations of its citizens, especially its young citizens. Malta started this important process in Valletta [in 2015]. The UK is determined to help carry forward that agenda for the long term.13

This objective was summed up by Tim Hitchens in January 2018, when he told the House of Lords International Relations Committee that the UK’s aim was to rejuvenate the Commonwealth so that it “takes its place once more as one of the significant international organisations”.14 Similarly, in a Westminster Hall debate on the future of the Commonwealth on 21 March, the FCO Minister of State for the Middle East said that the Government’s ambition was to use the Summit “to reinvigorate the Commonwealth and to help make it an even more active and influential global network”. He added that the Government wanted the Summit to be “an important milestone for the Commonwealth—a point in its history where it shows it is fit and able to take on the challenges of the 21st century”.15

13.When we asked Lord Ahmad what message about ‘Global Britain’ the Government intended to project at the Summit, he said: “That we have a common future, that we are building on the issues that matter and that this is an opportunity to strengthen our trade ties.”16 He also told us that one of his objectives was to “to ensure we give this the priority it deserves in terms of the opportunities it offers”, and that it was his intention that “the momentum that we have built to date should continue after the Summit”.17 Similarly, in Westminster Hall on 21 March, the FCO Minister for the Middle East said that ‘Global Britain’ is “fine as a slogan” but that “we have to deliver” and that the Commonwealth provided “an opportunity, in conjunction with other work that we will do, to do just that”. He added that the Summit was “a priority for the Government”.18

14.In a blogpost on 12 March 2018, the FCO Permanent Secretary said that the Summit would be “proof of our continuing engagement in multilateral diplomacy and of our convening power”. He added that the Commonwealth would “acquire even greater significance for the UK” as it prepares to leave the EU.19 However, when he appeared before us in November 2017, Sir Simon said that the Commonwealth was not a top priority for the FCO, and that it “is a very important organisation to the United Kingdom, but not as important, in the next period, as the neighbourhood, China or the United States”.20 Similarly, the memorandum that the FCO supplied to the Committee on ‘Global Britain’ in March 2018 prioritised the United States, Europe and the Indo-Pacific but mentioned the Commonwealth only in two paragraphs towards the end.21 When the Foreign Secretary appeared before us on 21 March 2018 he reiterated that the FCO’s priority in the allocation of resources would be the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific.22

The Commonwealth as a network

15.Lord Ahmad told us that the Commonwealth is not like the EU or the UN, and that its biggest advantage “is that it is a network”. He went on to suggest that this network of 53 states works in a range of ways. On some issues, individual Commonwealth members come together on a bilateral basis; on other issues, groups of members come together. The biennial summit is the moment when all 53 come together and agree collective action. Lord Ahmad said:

There will be occasions within the context of the Commonwealth where two countries move together, be it on trade, education or development. There will be other times when a collection of countries move together on a particular agenda; when it comes to the issues of the Summit and the CHOGM, the 53 nations have to agree on a common agenda. That is the strength of the Commonwealth.23

16.Lord Ahmad emphasised the complexity of a Commonwealth that is underpinned by overlapping bilateral and multilateral relationships rather than the inter-governmental structures that govern the EU or the UN. He did not, however, say how the Government planned to manage this complexity to harness the collective potential of the organisation. Furthermore, while he told us that the Commonwealth “provides greater opportunities, on occasion, to do more bilaterally”, he did not say what it was about common membership of the organisation that set such bilateral relationships apart from others or what messages around this a ‘Global Britain’ would be able to convey if the FCO admitted that the Commonwealth was not a top priority.24 This apparent inconsistency was further evidenced when Harriet Baldwin, the FCO Minister of State for Africa—where there are 19 Commonwealth members—told us that she did not have “any hand in drafting” the FCO’s ‘Global Britain’ memorandum to us and “would have wanted to see a higher mention in terms of the work that I do”.25

The FCO’s role in managing relations with the Commonwealth

17.When we asked Lord Ahmad if the ‘C’ had been put back in FCO, he told us that “as the Minister who carries the ‘C’ not only in the broader title but in his specific title as well”, much of his work in recent months was around “energising my teams and the officials around me within the context of the Foreign Office to ensure we give this the priority it deserves in terms of the opportunities it offers”. However, he said that the best answer was the fact that the Prime Minister was personally overseeing preparations for the Summit and that she was supported in this by an inter-ministerial group chaired by the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, which drew in the Secretaries of State for International Development, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.26

The Commonwealth’s values

18.The Commonwealth states that it is united by the values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. We asked Lord Ahmad what the Commonwealth values amounted to if homosexual activity is criminalised in 36 of the 53 Commonwealth countries and the death penalty is imposed in 20. He said that the UK did not believe these practices were in accordance with the values of the Commonwealth, that the UK was a strong advocate for same-sex rights and the repeal of the death penalty and that both issues were likely to be raised at the Summit. He also said that the Commonwealth was a network that allowed the UK to raise these issues bilaterally and collectively.27 In response to an oral Parliamentary question in the House of Lords on 21 March about the UK Government’s human rights priorities for the communiqué of the Commonwealth Summit in April 2018, Lord Ahmad also stated that: “Declarations from the Commonwealth are always strong but the actions have perhaps not delivered on those declarations. Together, working with the Secretary-General, it is our aim to revitalise and re-energise the Commonwealth.” He emphasised that the Government’s approach on human rights, including in connection with the Commonwealth, “has never been one of pointing fingers” but was “about learning from experience”.28

The Commonwealth in the UN

19.When Lord Ahmad appeared before us on 7 February 2018 in his capacity as Minister of State for the UN, he told us that the UK would “need to strengthen [its] role to see how we can work more cohesively and with strength with some of our Commonwealth partners” in the UN.29 We also asked him if the UK should pay less attention to the Security Council and more to the General Assembly. He said: “I am keen to explore and strengthen the position we have within the context of the Commonwealth”.30 When we questioned how the UK could build a Commonwealth caucus in the UN, given the diversity of its members, he said:

There is a lot of strength. I am very passionate about the Commonwealth, because, taking a step back, if you have common systems, common languages, common legal systems and educational frameworks, that is a very strong base for continued working and strengthened working. I think the Commonwealth is desperately underleveraged.31

The Minister subsequently told us in a letter dated 9 March that the Summit was an opportunity to support the smallest and most vulnerable Commonwealth countries to access the international rules-based order. He also said that, since the 2015 Summit, the UK had provided £400,000 in funding for the Commonwealth Small States Office, which supports the work of some of the smallest Commonwealth countries at UN institutions in both New York and Geneva.32

20.We recognise that the work of numerous government departments touches on the Commonwealth. But if the UK is to exercise influence among, and harness the potential of, this diverse group of partners, it is essential that the FCO shows leadership. For the Commonwealth to be more than a collection of bilateral relationships, the FCO needs to clarify what it is about common membership of the Commonwealth that distinguishes the UK’s relationships with the 52 other Commonwealth members and, on this basis, set out a long-term vision for the UK’s relationship with the Commonwealth and its members. Only with such a long-term vision in place can the FCO coordinate the work of other government departments to ensure that the UK’s relationship with the Commonwealth is more than the sum of its parts. Within the next three months, the FCO should provide this Committee with a statement of Her Majesty’s Government’s long-term vision for the UK’s relationship with the Commonwealth and clarify what the 52 other members can expect from a post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’. This statement should refer to the work of other government departments but must demonstrate how the FCO will lead the cross-Government relationship and in what ways the work of other departments will feed into the FCO’s overall Commonwealth strategy.

21.When the FCO lays out its long-term vision for the UK’s relationship with the Commonwealth, it should consider the potential for a new institutionalised forum that allows legal practitioners from across the Commonwealth to come together to share best practice on implementing international human rights law and embedding the rule of law, and to identify common solutions to critical issues such as cyber security, data protection and online privacy. In doing so, the FCO should consult as necessary the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association.

22.In its response to this Report, the FCO should provide more detail about how it plans to build a Commonwealth caucus in the General Assembly and to leverage UK membership of the Commonwealth throughout the UN.

8 William Hague, speeches on 6 October 2010 and 27 July 2011

9 Q8, Q16

10 HL Deb 20 February 2018, col 9

11 Oral evidence taken on 21 March 2018, HC (2017–19) 538, Q280

12 The Prime Minister’s Commonwealth Day statement, 13 March 2017

13 The Prime Minister’s speech at Commonwealth leaders reception, 20 September 2017

14 House of Lords Select Committee on International Relations, Report: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018, p. 2, para 8.

15 HC Deb 21 March 2018, col 187WH

16 Q9

17 Q8, Q21

18 HC Deb 21 March 2018, col 187WH

19 Sir Simon McDonald, blogpost on CHOGM, 12 March 2018