Latest news with #overseasAid
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
John Major condemns ‘callous' aid cuts and growing national self-interest
John Major has condemned cuts to overseas aid as 'callous' and shortsighted, in a blistering speech that took aim at leaders obsessed by national self-interest and explicitly linked Donald Trump with Xi Jinping as the world's main destabilising forces. Arguing that his age and lack of connection to everyday politics gave him the ability to speak freely, the former prime minister said Trump's reliance on threats would embolden tyrants, and said the supposed benefits of Brexit were 'as elusive as Lord Lucan'. Giving a lecture in Salisbury Cathedral in memory of Edward Heath, another former Conservative prime minister, Major noted how the Russian invasion of Ukraine had 'erased the global peace dividend', but he criticised the choices then made. 'We, among others, are now to spend more on defence, and to finance that by cutting aid to the world's most wretched and helpless,' Major said. 'Many people, with voices that will never be heard, will suffer and die because countries have made this change in budgetary priorities. 'It is shortsighted and, to my mind, callous. And the fallout, over time, will be greater migrant demand to live in the richer countries.' In a lengthy section focused on Trump's America, noting the US president's seeming favouritism of Russia over Ukraine and his threats to annex Greenland, Major said: 'This is not America as I have known her. This is not democracy as I understand it.' While accepting that Europe had become complacent in relying on the might of US defence, Major condemned Washington's treatment of Ukraine, saying it had been 'threatened, bullied and had military and intelligence withdrawn as if she were the aggressor'. Major argued that Trump's wider tactics on the world stage, including against Iran, were likely to bring short-term benefits at best. 'President Trump may achieve extraordinary things. His very unpredictability promotes uncertainty – and sometimes fear – of what he might do next. In this fashion, he gains compliance with his wishes,' he said. 'The timid may crumble, the cautious may appease, but I hope the president understands that agreement under duress is false and unreliable. If someone has their foot on your neck, you may comply with their wishes ‒ but you will never forget the foot.' Likening Trump's tactics to those of Xi, the Chinese leader, Major said neither 'offer the assurance of an ordered and peaceful future'. On Brexit, Major called for the UK to sign up to the EU's single market and customs union, saying: 'I continue to search for the 'benefits of Brexit' but they are as elusive as Lord Lucan. Some politicians talk of them – but are unable to tell us what they are, or where they may be found.' More broadly, Major warned about what he said would be the dire consequences of a world filled with populist leaders reliant on might and guided only by national self-interest. Also using the example of Gaza, he asked: 'Is starvation now a legitimate weapon of war?' Major went on: 'Is barbarianism now acceptable if the barbarian is strong enough – or the victim without friends? Can it be that our world is so exhausted, politics so tainted, self-interest so predominant that it has abandoned compassion? Is might now right? Has the law, human decency and political morality been cast aside? 'Or is it, perhaps, as simple as this: that our world is now beginning to elect leaders concerned only about national self-interest? If so, if politics leads countries to hunker down in their own little trenches of interest, ignore reason, bypass diplomacy, forgo enlightened self-interest – then heaven help us all.'
Telegraph
08-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Bill Gates accuses Elon Musk of killing children
Bill Gates has accused Elon Musk of 'killing the world's poorest children' after the Tesla billionaire gutted America's overseas aid agency. The Microsoft founder – formerly the world's richest man – said Mr Musk's decisions would result in children in Africa being infected with HIV. He also criticised a decision by Sir Keir Starmer to cut Britain's overseas aid budget, calling it 'surprising and disappointing'. Mr Gates said Mr Musk's decision to strip USAID, the US government's overseas aid agency, of funding in February would lead to a surge of diseases such as measles, HIV and polio in some of the world's poorest nations. 'The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one,' he told the Financial Times. USAID managed more than $40bn (£30bn) in US international aid but Mr Musk gutted the organisation, which he branded 'a viper's nest of radical-Left Marxists who hate America' and a 'criminal organisation'. Officials from Mr Musk's Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) took control of USAID's offices in early February, sacking nearly all of its staff or placing them on leave. Overseas projects were left in limbo, with staff ordered to return home. Mr Gates said Mr Musk had cancelled hospital funding to Gaza Province, in Mozambique, falsely claiming that the funding was sending condoms to Hamas in Gaza in the Middle East. 'I'd love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money,' he told the Financial Times. Mr Musk later admitted Doge had made some 'mistakes'. The two billionaires have clashed previously. Mr Musk originally signed Mr Gates's Giving Pledge, in which billionaires promise to give away half their wealth. However, the Tesla chief later called most philanthropy 'bull----', according to Walter Isaacson, his biographer. Mr Musk also fumed at the Microsoft founder after he discovered Mr Gates had taken a short position against Tesla, betting its stock price would fall. Mr Gates made the comments about USAID as he committed to giving away $200bn over the next 20 years. Mr Gates, 69, on Thursday announced plans to accelerate his philanthropic giving with a view to shutting down the Gates Foundation, his charity, by 2045. The donations are in addition to more than $100bn in giving since the foundation was launched at the turn of the millennium. Mr Gates had originally intended for the Gates Foundation to run for several decades after his death. However, on Thursday he said: 'I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned. 'I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world.' He added: 'I expect the foundation will spend more than $200bn between now and 2045.' As well as criticising Mr Musk, Mr Gates also took aim at Labour cuts to Britain's overseas aid budget, warning of a 'gulf in funding' for international charities that would hamper efforts to eradicate diseases. The Prime Minister announced plans to cut the UK's overseas aid budget in February from 0.5pc of national income to 0.3pc by 2027, instead boosting defence spending. In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Gates said: 'Take Keir Starmer. A day before he's supposed to fly and see Trump, and he's like, 'Oh my God, I've got to show that we're serious about defence spending.' 'And somebody says, 'We could cut the aid budget from 0.5pc to 0.3pc.' Nobody says, 'Hey, what about those kids who won't get vaccines?'' He added: 'That's a centre-Left government. And it's in the UK, where civil society is actually stronger on these issues than anywhere else in the world ... That one was particularly surprising and a bit disappointing.' The Gates Foundation was originally launched as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. The couple divorced in 2021. Ms French Gates, whose net worth is now $30bn, has already announced her own plans to donate more than $1bn to support women and families over the next two years.
