Speeches by Whittingdale.

“I think that argument applies across the BBC’s services. People feel very strongly about other things the BBC does—local radio, for instance. If you had asked Parliament, the BBC would not have made any cuts to local radio. Anyway, it is certainly an interesting suggestion, and we will take account of it, so thank you.”

“Is there not a slight risk that that might be seen to be politicising the management of the World Service?”

“So we do not recreate Bush House.”

“So it is a money question.”

“Well, I don’t think that is the case with regards to Cyprus—”

“Perhaps we should pursue this with the Foreign Secretary. Baroness Chapman said that if it was made public, the price could go up. Do you know why that should be the case?”

“Lastly, can I ask you about the British Council. The British Council has been sustained by loans from the Foreign Office, particularly post covid. Do you believe that there is any chance of the British Council becoming self-sustaining, and what would the consequence be if it ceased to be able to receive that funding fr…”

“But is it your intention that the British Council should become self-sustaining?”

“Very quickly—the Foreign Office has embassies, often for historical reasons, in very iconic buildings in prime locations in cities. I am sure the Treasury would say that we could sell those, raise huge amounts of money and move to nice concrete buildings in the suburbs. Do you recognise that the UK’s reputation and pre…”

“Obviously, the world changes constantly; new countries emerge, and others become more important. Is there any possibility of the Foreign Office wishing to open new embassies?”

“The constraint on opening new embassies or consulates is financial, rather than necessarily what would be good for the UK.”

“I want to ask you about one or two specific areas of Foreign Office expenditure. You have mentioned the fact that in the Budget, the Chancellor announced that there will be an increase in the amount of money the Foreign Office provides to the World Service. Can you tell me how much that is going to be and is there any …”

“Why does it have to go to the BBC board?”

“Will it have strings attached?”

“The Foreign Office used to fund the BBC and the World Service in its entirety. It was then fully funded by the licence fee, and it is now partly funded by you and partly by the licence fee. The director general has made it clear that he does not think that is a satisfactory arrangement, and he thinks the Foreign Office…”

“So the Foreign Office does not have a view as to whether or not they should pay for it.”

“Can I ask you about another piece of unquantified funding—that is, the agreement with Mauritius over Diego Garcia? The Government have announced that you are going to make an annual payment. Is that coming out of your budget, and how much is it?”

“The MoD made public its arrangements over Cyprus. If the MoD can do it over Cyprus, why can’t you?”

“We are proposing to make a payment to another country—in this case, Mauritius. Why can you not say how much we are going to give Mauritius?”

“As I understand it, the number of false positives recorded depends to some extent on the threshold at which the technology is set.”