Hague Unveils Foreign Office 'Renaissance'

The UK is bringing ambassadors out of retirement and improving training as part of a drive to bring about a "renaissance" at the Foreign Office.









William Hague claims his department declined in status under the previous government.

More staff are also being sent to emerging powers like China and India.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the FCO's status had declined under the previous Labour government.

But former foreign secretary Jack Straw said Labour had increased spending on the FCO and accused Mr Hague of setting out "a parody" of the department.

Speaking at the FCO's Whitehall headquarters, in central London, Mr Hague said: "I formed the firm view in opposition that the Foreign Office had been devalued and sidelined in British government, too often ignored by prime ministers and weakened as an institution.

"After years in which the level of ambition of ministers has been that government departments are simply fit for purpose, in the Foreign Office we have set ourselves the goal of excellence in every crucial area of our work."

Staff turnover

When he arrived at the Foreign Office, Mr Hague said he "found evidence that dysfunction and rivalry" in the relationship between ministers had "corroded ties between the FCO and its closest partners" in government.

"In my first weeks in office I received advice warning me about a planned overseas visit by another secretary of state, assuming that I would want to stop that visit going ahead and advising me how to do this.

"It spoke volumes about the relationship between some ministers under the last government that officials believed this would be what I wanted.

"It may also reflect the astonishing turnover in junior ministers in the Foreign Office in recent years."

"Spending on the Foreign Office rose under Labour and is being cut under Hague"
Jack Straw Former Labour foreign secretary

In May, the foreign secretary announced plans for five new embassies: in El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan and South Sudan, and in Madagascar and Somalia when local circumstances permit.

Extra offices are set to open in the world's fastest growing economies including Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia.

Mr Hague also told MPs there would be 50 extra British staff in China and 30 more in India.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said the plans were "a tall order" at a time of swingeing Whitehall cuts, but they reflected a general shift in focus away from seeing the world solely as a globalised network towards the old-fashioned business of diplomacy between nation states.

Mr Hague told the BBC his plans were achievable despite a 10% budget cut, and insisted it would be "a false economy" to reduce Britain's overseas presence when there were "more and more centres of decision-making in the world".

'Strong on rhetoric'

"We have to be under their skin, we have to really know them, their languages, just going to international meetings in not sufficient," he said.

"We've got to have the strong, deep bilateral relationships as well and I think that point was missed by the previous government."

But Mr Straw, who was Labour foreign secretary between 2001 and 2006, rejected Mr Hague's allegations, calling his speech "strong on rhetoric and very short on facts".

"Spending on the Foreign Office rose under Labour and is being cut under Hague," he told the BBC.

"His description of the Foreign Office when I was there is not one I recognise. What he sets out is a parody."

Mr Hague said his department was spending £1m more a year on language teaching and diplomats were being equipped with "sharper economic skills" through beefed-up training.

He also pledged greater emphasis on "cultivating and retaining knowledge throughout the institution" by ensuring the expertise of senior diplomats was not lost after they retired aged 60.

To do this, an advisory group of former ambassadors and other diplomats will be set up to offer advise to ministers on policy.

New Libya May Refuse To Extradite Yvonne Fletcher Murder Suspect

Diplomat suspected of killing police officer in 1984 at London embassy could escape extradition, but might be tried in Libya.












Police officers try to revive PC Yvonne Fletcher after she was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 during an anti-Gaddafi protest. Libyan officials say the suspect might not be extradited.

The justice minister of the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Friday a post-Gaddafi government would "not give any Libyan citizen to the west", in an apparent blow to British hopes of putting on trial the suspected killer of Yvonne Fletcher, the police officer shot dead 27 years ago outside the Libyan embassy.

Mohammed al-Alagi also ruled out the return to the UK of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing but released in 2009 on compassionate grounds.

"Al-Megrahi has already been judged once and he will not be judged again," he told journalists in Tripoli. "We do not hand over Libyan citizens, [Muammar] Gaddafi does."

Alagi added: "We will not give any Libyan citizen to the west," a comment that appeared to rule out the extradition of the man suspected of shooting Fletcher in 1984.

Earlier on Sunday, the foreign secretary, William Hague, played down suggestions that the NTC would not work with British officials in their the hunt for her killer. He said: "When chairman [Mustafa Abdel] Jalil … was with us in London in May he committed himself and the council to co-operating fully with the British government on this issue."

Hague was responding to a report in the Sunday Times that quoted two NTC officials saying nobody would be sent to the UK to face trial for Fletcher's killing.

"Libya has never extradited or handed over its citizens to a foreign country. We shall continue with this principle," said Hassan al-Sagheer, a member of the NTC.

Another NTC member, Fawzi al-Ali, was quoted as saying: "According to our laws, no one can be handed over unless there are special agreements to do so."

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said that, at present, Libyan law prohibits the extradition of its own citizens. It does, however, allow for its nationals to be tried in Libya for crimes committed overseas.

Guma el-Gamaty, the NTC's UK co-ordinator, took part in the anti-Gaddafi protest that Fletcher was policing when she was shot.

He distanced himself from the views expressed by Sagheer and others, insisting on Sunday that it was too early to draw any conclusions. "Nobody can rule out anything at the moment; the possibility [of a British trial] is there," he said. "But first of all investigations need to be concluded. Somebody has to be identified as the killer … Obviously everyone wants justice; it's just a matter of when and how and whether the actual killer has been identified."

Gamaty added that, as with the Fletcher case, the issue of an eventual return to Scottish jail for Megrahi was "a decision for a future Libyan government". The whereabouts of Megrahi, who was given a hero's welcome when he returned to Libya two years ago, are unknown.

No one has ever been charged for killing Fletcher, who was 25 when officials inside the Libyan embassy opened fire on the anti-Gaddafi protesters outside.

Embassy staff were subsequently allowed to leave Britain, but diplomatic ties with Libya were severed.

Those seeking justice for Fletcher, however, were given a boost on Friday when it emerged that the Crown Prosecution Service had heard a witness account that identified a junior diplomat, Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, as the possible gunman.

On Saturday, the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said the emergence of a new suspect would be raised with the NTC. The government would, he said, be pursuing the case "in every way we can".