Islam versus Europe

Britain's growing foreign aid [jizya] budget can do as much for national security as the Army, Navy and RAF, says Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary.

Even as most Government departments’ budgets are being cut, aid [jizya] spending is rising by more than a third to almost £11billion in 2014-15 as the Coalition aims for a United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of GDP.

“Our security in London and Birmingham is not just provided by soldiers and tanks and fighter jets, it is also provided by training the police in Afghanistan, by building up governance structures in the Middle East and by getting girls into school in the Horn of Africa. Those things are all part of what makes us safer.”

By addressing instability and conflict “upstream”, he says, Britain can avert the future security threats that even the poorest countries can pose to the richest. Aid work in Somalia today could prevent the need for military intervention there tomorrow, he says.

A Commons whip under Sir John Major, he wrestled with the Maastricht rebels and formed a strong bond with his fellow whip, David Davis. In 2005, he ran Mr Davis’ leadership campaign, but has since become a staunch ally of the Cameroon modernisers; they regard increasing aid spending as a vital part of changing the Conservative Party’s image and thinking.

More than 60 Tory MPs, including David Cameron, have now taken part in Project Umubano, and the party “has been changed quite radically on development” Mr Mitchell says.

He refuses to question the intentions or ethics of his opponents: “I don't think that the people who disagree with this are in any way dishonourable; I completely understand that at a time of great stress these are very difficult decisions.” But in a swipe at some of his own party, he adds: “Real Conservatives don’t cut aid[jizya].”