Cameron call for billions in aid risks Tory anger

In a remarkable change of tone for a government that closed the Department for International Development and slashed the foreign aid budget, the former prime minister is to say he wants to push for the restoration of aid’s status in foreign policy .

- Patrick Wintour

Cameron, who was appointed foreign secretary by Rishi Sunak on Monday in an astonishing political comeback, is to write in a foreword to a new international development white paper that foreign aid is even more vital, but more difficult than when he was last in office.

The internationalist tone is likely to infuriate the Tory right, already angry that Cameron's return signals a rush to the political centre ground, while his failure to formally commit extra public money to aid will dismay many charities. Cameron will say the UK must find fresh ways to meet the UN's sustainable development goals, including ending global hunger by 2030.

He describes the UN goals as a remarkable achievement, adding "crucially, we made these promises to every country and person on the planet-nobody would be left behind, a promise we made to the world".

The development white paper is to be published on Monday as a global food summit is held in London. Officials say Cameron took the draft white paper home in his ministerial box on his first day in office, reading it overnight.

As prime minister Cameron made foreign aid a central component of "compassionate Conservatism", committing his government to spending 0.7% of GDP on aid and co-chairing a UN panel on extreme poverty that led in 2015 to the 17 UN sustainable development goals.

The white paper focuses on new policy approaches, and ways of leveraging extra state and private funds for aid, which Cameron says could "unlock hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade".

It does not change the economic preconditions set by Sunak for a return to spending 0.7% of GDP, after it was cut to 0.5% in 2020.