Lord Ashcroft: Should nations that can afford presidential jets receive aid from British taxpayers?

By Lord Ashcroft, KCMG.

"Following my discovery earlier this year that British aid money had helped President Museveni of Uganda to buy himself a private jet, I decided to ask a further written question on the subject in the House of Lords. It seemed a simple matter…

"To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a country which is able to afford a private jet for its president or head of state is eligible for aid from the United Kingdom."

This was the reply:

"Since 2010, the Government have introduced more robust assessments on where and how DfID should provide aid, based on a range of factors including partner governments' overall commitment to improving management and transparency of public finances. We place great emphasis on the developing country's commitment to strengthening the accountability between government and its citizens, to increase the transparency of their budgets to allow citizens to hold their governments to account. We will not give general budget support to countries if we are not confident that resources will be used in the interest of reducing poverty. DfID uses the most appropriate aid instruments to deliver the development results we want to achieve in each country, assessing which countries should receive aid, and measures to make aid support more effective."

That all seems quite clear then."