UK soft power push has fallen flat, senior figures say

{"text":[[{"start":9.5,"text":"The UK government has been accused of neglecting a body set up to promote British “soft power” and wasting the efforts of senior figures from culture, sport and the creative industries who were recruited to join it."}],[{"start":21.4,"text":"The soft power council was launched to fanfare in January last year by the then-foreign secretary David Lammy and culture secretary Lisa Nandy, who argued it would help boost UK economic growth and security by bringing together experts from a range of sectors to promote British interests overseas."}],[{"start":38.75,"text":"The council’s 26 members include Sir Peter Bazalgette, pro-chancellor of the Royal College of Art; General Sir Nick Carter, former chief of defence staff; Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, chair of Sport Wales; Sir Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum; and Roland Rudd, chair of public relations firm FGS Global."}],[{"start":60.45,"text":"However, some members have complained that no minister has attended the council since October and allege that Yvette Cooper, Lammy’s successor at the Foreign Office, and Nandy seem uninterested and have allowed its momentum to dwindle. "}],[{"start":73.85000000000001,"text":"“It’s been a bit of a waste of time. It hasn’t had much steam,” one member of the council said. A second member said: “Nothing is going on . . . Lisa Nandy never puts any work into it.”"}],[{"start":84.60000000000001,"text":"Cooper has not attended a meeting of the council since she became foreign secretary last September, having had to cancel two planned appearances due to urgent global developments."}],[{"start":94.45,"text":"The UK government said the soft power council had met “multiple times” and that its working groups had “actively contributed to our activity across a range of areas, including the cultural delegations that accompanied the prime minister to China and India”. "}],[{"start":108.35000000000001,"text":"“We look forward to that partnership continuing over the months and years to come,” it added."}],[{"start":113.95,"text":"An email sent to council members by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office last week said Cooper backed the council and had appointed junior minister Chris Elmore to lead on soft power at the department. But this has failed to inspire confidence about its future."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":129.7,"text":"Nandy has also this month appointed Lord Jack McConnell as a ministerial adviser at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on soft power and major events, although one member expressed surprise that the move had not been connected to the council."}],[{"start":144.29999999999998,"text":"The email and appointments followed the government commissioning Sanctuary Counsel, a communications and reputation advisory firm, to review the soft power council’s purpose. "}],[{"start":153.85,"text":"The recent departure from government of the senior official responsible for driving the council forward has also raised questions about its future. "}],[{"start":162.04999999999998,"text":"The council’s members include senior figures from UK Sport, BBC Studios, the British Tourist Authority, the Football Association, the British Council, Historic England, UK universities, international affairs think-tanks, and organisations that promote democracy and the rule of law. "}],[{"start":180.95,"text":"A third member said it had been Lammy’s brainchild. “Since the change in foreign secretary from David Lammy to Yvette Cooper, there’s been zero interest in it,” they said, adding that Nandy was also “not that involved”. "}],[{"start":193.89999999999998,"text":"Sanctuary Counsel seemed “to be starting from the position” that the council was “a good thing”, the person added. “But it’s slightly odd to ask a consultancy to come in and assess an organisation that’s only been operating for a few months.”"}],[{"start":209.45,"text":"The person urged the government to inject fresh impetus into the initiative. “It’s a brilliant concept: it means soft power has cabinet representation, which is just what you need in an age of hard power . . . It’s therefore disappointing that it has sat there not doing anything,” they said."}],[{"start":225.45,"text":"A fourth member of the council agreed: “It’s a really good thing and quite interesting ideas have come out of it. There are small working groups on various matters.”"}],[{"start":235.5,"text":"However, the person warned it “lacks oomph” and insisted “you need a minister driving it forward”, adding that Cooper appeared to have “other priorities”. "}],[{"start":244.25,"text":"Another individual linked to the council said: “There are people in very important and busy positions who’ve given up quite a bit of time for this. You want that to be useful.” They warned there was a danger that momentum would “fizzle”. "}],[{"start":256.9,"text":"Earlier this year, parliament’s joint committee on the national security strategy urged the government to “draw on the advice of experts represented on the soft power council”."}],[{"start":266.09999999999997,"text":"The committee added that, more than a year after its inception, it was “not clear how frequently the council has met, what the outcomes of its advice have been, or how the government is making the most of this expertise”. "}],[{"start":279.09999999999997,"text":"Another person linked to the council warned that failure to support it was a missed opportunity, particularly against the backdrop of Britain’s falling international aid budget. "}],[{"start":288.65,"text":"Other UK soft power assets are also stretched. The budget of the BBC World Service has fallen in real terms in recent years, while the British Council warned in October that it was “selling everything” it could to survive."}],[{"start":309.74999999999994,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780051315_7961.mp3"}