Outrage as top mandarin at Department responsible for spending £12 billion on overseas aid KNIGHTED
Mark Lowcock, the permanent secretary at the Department for International Development, received a Gong despite fury at the millions of taxpayers’ charitable cash being wasted
OUTRAGE erupted on Friday night as the mandarin in charge of Britain’s bloated £12 billion aid budget was KNIGHTED in the Honours list.
Mark Lowcock, the permanent secretary at the Department for International Development (Dfid), was given a gong for “public service”.
It sparked fury among Conservative MPs who immediately christened the civil servant ‘Sir Waste-a-Lot’.
Since getting the top job in 2011, Mr Lowcock has overseen a 60 per cent rise in the amount of taxpayers cash doled out on projects around the world – from £7.7 billion to more than £12 billion.
Earlier this month, Mr Lowcock was branded “evasive” over the decision to use £285 million of taxpayers’ money to build an airport in St Helena – only to discover fierce winds mean it can hardly be used.
The Department also has the highest paid civil servants in Whitehall.
Speaking last night, Tory backbencher Philip Davies seethed: “Mark Lowcock certainly hasn’t been knighted for services to the UK taxpayer.
“If squandering billions of pounds on greedy consultants, corrupt countries and having the highest paid staff in the civil service gets you a Knighthood these days then God Help Us.
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“It certainly detracts from some of the other very deserving on the list.”
The outrage came as the Honours List threatened to ignite another fierce row over ‘cronyism’.
Millionaire Tory donor David Ord also received a Knighthood while there were also awards for the Conservative Party’s head of campaigning, associate treasurer and deputy head of fundraising.
No fewer than 15 of Theresa May’s former Home Office staff were showered with awards – including an OBE for her ex-principal private secretary and an MBE for a press officer.
And disgraced ex Tory chairman Lord Feldman’s former chief of staff Alexandra Broadrick was given an OBE.
In other awards, Tory MP Julian Brazier and Labour’s David Crausby were given Knighthoods for political service. Separately, former Lib Dem pensions minister Steve Webb was also made a Sir while Baroness Shirley Williams becomes a Companion of Honour.
But it was Mr Lowcock’s gong which incensed MPs desperate for the PM to relax the rules governing Britain’s lavish aid spending – and use the cash to fund the NHS, social care or schools here in Britain.
David Cameron passed legislation to guarantee the UK spends 0.7 per cent of its economic output on overseas aid.
It means the UK is now second only to the US when it comes to the amounts advanced nations spend on aid. While the US spends £22.5 billion, it represents 0.71 per cent of its economy.
In an interview this April, Mr Lowcock insisted the debate on whether the UK should spend £12 billion on aid had been "settled".
He told Civil Service World: “There’s a settled view,” he said. “I worry much less than I used to about having to make the case for development.”
He added the department had a “fantastic reputation” and an “amazing ability to get things done”.
But Chancellor Philip Hammond earlier this month admitted the legislation governing aid spending would have to be reviewed after 2020 given the pressures on the economy.
The Sun last year revealed the Foreign Office had used taxpayers’ cash to fund an overseas aid programme designed to find mates for a rare tropical fish.
Last month it emerged Britain was still giving hundreds of millions of pounds in aid to China and India – two of the fastest growing economies in the world.
And before Christmas a report revealed Britain gave £1.3 billion in foreign aid to help people in 20 of the most corrupt countries in the world, Somalia received £120 million worth of aid despite concerns the money could be hijacked by terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and IS.
The Sun this month revealed new Aid Secretary Priti Patel has threatened to sack senior civil servants over staggering “profiteering” by consultants used to funnel aid to regions around the world.
An investigation found that DfiD’s spending on consultancy services has doubled to almost £1 billion a year with one think tank quoting more than £10,000 to write a single blog post.
Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough, told the Sun: “The question that has to be posed is how successful has Dfid been? Most people would say we have got a to a situation where we’re giving money away just to hit a target – and giving money to countries that don’t need it.
“Is that a record to be proud of?
“I’m out delivering leaflets in my constituency and people on the doorstep are asking about social care, and why haven’t we got the money for social care?
“They can’t understand why we are spending billions extra on aid.”
But former Aid Minister Andrew Mitchell – who appointed Mr Lowcock to his post five years ago – leapt to the civil servant’s defence.
He told the Sun: “Very senior civil servants forgo considerable reward as they pursue their career in public service.
“In our system such people have always their work recognised in this way. And Mark Lowcock fits the bill absolutely.”