Opinion: If the UK wants to increase the provision of aid to the private sector, we must play it straight

(Devex, Washington, 27 October 2017) This summer, the British Conservative Party, through their manifesto and the pages of the Daily Mail, issued the OECD DAC — a multilateral group of donors that sets the definition of aid — an ultimatum: allow us to widen the definition [of aid] to include more private equity, more military spending, and more domestic spending, [and more ECA support?] or Britain will pull out. Pulling out of the OECD DAC would mark a dangerous precedent. Can any donor country chalk up anything it wants as aid? Export credit? How about concessional arms sales? And what would pulling out of this multilateral group do for the international norms and standards for the delivery of aid that Britain has helped shape over decades?