Waste of cash on vanity projects in far-flung lands kept me awake at night, says Tory foreign aid chief Priti Patel – who admits she thumped her desk when she first saw the figures after taking charge
Patel keeps a huge dossier of past incompetence that she can use to show staff where they have gone wrong before
TORY minister Priti Patel told yesterday of her desk-thumping rage over the millions of pounds squandered on bonkers overseas aid projects.
She admitted the waste kept her awake at night in the weeks after she took charge of her big-spending department.
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International Development Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to change UK foreign aid rulesCredit: John McLellan
And in an attempt to halt misuse, the International Development Secretary scoured the books line by line, compiling a four-inch thick dossier of taxpayer-funded extravagance.
Ms Patel felt her blood boil when she saw how the hard-earned cash of British workers was being used to fund vanity projects in far-flung lands.
Worse still, she said, were the amounts creamed off by third-party suppliers.
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Priti said the huge amounts spent can keep her awake at nightCredit: John McLellan
She said: “Frankly, some of it was just plain bonkers. It’s the kind of stuff that keeps me awake at night.
“Some of the waste has literally taken my breath away but the biggest one was the desk-thumping moment when I saw the money spent on procurement.
“I was absolutely appalled by the practices of third-party suppliers raking in huge profits from providing aid.”
In our chat over tea and a toasted teacake at a cafe in her Essex constituency, she talks frankly of a culture of waste she inherited.
In January, she pulled £5.2million of funding for a pop group dubbed Ethiopia’s Spice Girls.
She also ordered an investigation into a Malawi charity which got £4.6million in aid but was found to be run by a cult-like organisation whose leaders were on Interpol’s wanted list.
And this kind of “appalling profligacy” spurred Ms Patel to demand changes in how Britain spends its £13billion-a-year aid budget.
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Taxpayers gave £5.2 million to Ethiopias answer to the Spice GirlsCredit: Rex Features
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£4.6 million went to a Malawi cult led by Mogens Amdi Petersen who is wanted by police
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£3,400 of UK money has been spent on a fish sanctuary in MadagascarCredit: Alamy
She said: “We want to help end poverty in the countries we help. But money doesn’t fall from the sky or grow on trees and it’s our responsibility to ensure that every penny is spent effectively.
“In the nine months since I took this job, I have gone through the entire department’s spending to make sure we are getting value for money.”
Ms Patel, 45, said her four-inch thick ring-binder is full of past mistakes.
She added: “I don’t think we should be spending aid on nice-to-do vanity projects. I’m making sure we stop that and am working with other government departments that spend money on aid to make sure they are spending money in the best national interest, too.
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“The ring-binder sits there in my cupboard and is a tacit reminder that if anyone wants to spend money on something that doesn’t meet our needs, I can remind them exactly where we went wrong in the past.
“Before we support any project we have to ask, how does this look? How can we justify to the British taxpayer we are setting up a girl band?
“They might be doing advocacy for women’s rights but we are not interested in the nice-to-do advocacy programmes. We need to get into comm-unities and empower women ourselves.
“The question I always ask before signing off cash is, ‘If we were to stop funding this, would that particular country’s government or another agency fund it?’ If the answer is no, then why should we?”
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Priti reveals she has a huge ring-binder of past mistakes she uses to remind staffers of where their priorities should beCredit: PA:Press Association
She revealed she has persuaded Theresa May to rip up the rules on foreign aid spending in her election manifesto. Now, she will work with other leaders to redefine what counts as aid.
One “crazy” example Ms Patel highlighted was the rule on clearing landmines from former war zones.
If the job is done by civilians, it counts towards Britain’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of its national income on aid. But if it is done by the military it does not count and other projects have to be funded to make up the gap.
She said: “We have changed that now but we believe there are many other areas where we can do exactly the same.”
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Priti with Sun on Sunday Political Editor David WoodingCredit: John McLellan
Top of her list of demands is to allow the stockpiling of aid in advance of natural disasters so help can arrive quicker.
At present, if a typhoon or tsunami is forecast to hit a region, it is forbidden for Royal Navy ships with food and medical supplies to be there ready to act.
Ms Patel said: “It makes my blood boil. Everyone in development knows that if you prepare you get a better outcome.”
She firmly believes it is right to continue putting funds into poorer countries but adds: “We have to use our development much more strategically to tackle the big global challenges we face.”
And she insists things are changing, saying: “Taxpayers need to know I’m taking back control of spending decisions.”
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