David Lammy has said he is reforming the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to improve its “domestic instinct”.
“Over the past six months I have seen in the Foreign Office the most dedicated public servants I have ever met, working all over the world to avert disasters and bring countries together,” Lammy said.
“But it is also clear they have less of an instinct than the rest of Whitehall for what is needed to deliver domestically for the people of Britain,” the foreign secretary added. “That’s why I have tasked my department with reforming its role and capabilities – to ensure our work provides maximum benefit to UK growth and security.”
Lammy made the comments in an op-ed for The Guardian, where he outlined the reasoning behind the FCDO’s new sanctions regime targeting those profiting from irregular migration and organised immigration crime.
The foreign secretary said he is working closely with the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the departments’ new Joint Irregular Migration Unit, “to deploy every tool at our disposal to restore control of our borders”.
He said it is “completely unrealistic” to solve the issue of illegal migration without a role for the Foreign Office. “A realistic strategy involves transactional, hard-headed diplomacy with partners all along the international people-smuggling pathway,” Lammy said.
Lammy, who will be joined in the FCDO by new permanent under-secretary Sir Olly Robbins later this month, said this is “one of a number of changes we are making to ensure the Foreign Office plays a full part in delivering the priorities of the hard-working British people”.
The foreign secretary said his approach – which he describes as ‘progressive realism’ – is in response to a “changed strategic environment, with more conflicts than at any time since 1945 and the most refugees and displaced people worldwide on record”.
Lammy said these moments of upheaval are “an opportunity to take an honest look at our institutions, and make essential reforms”.