Why the financial crisis at the British Council matters as UK pushes soft power
Why the financial crisis at the British Council matters as UK pushes soft power
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Labour’s recognition of soft power’s intangible value should take in the crucial work of the British Council. British Council could disappear within a decade, says chief executive. Something is jarring when the foreign secretary, David Lammy, regards UK soft power as so important he establishes a council to promote the country globally, while one of the longstanding British institutions devoted to bolstering that power is on the verge of a form of bankruptcy.
![[The British Council building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/95f60c39882bd4dfe0d1135e491e43b0513bd088/0_777_3550_3692/master/3550.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The financial plight of the British Council, and the collapse of its income from English language teaching during the pandemic, has hardly been hidden from view, so much so the organisation was chosen as one of the subjects of inquiry by the Commons foreign affairs select committee. The chief executive of the British Council, Scott McDonald, told MPs that the UK international cultural and educational organisation was at risk of disappearing in two years.
It may be that in times of hard power – when Donald Trump demands Nato members increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP – the 90-year-old British Council with its goal of “creating connections to build a more peaceful and prosperous world” no longer seems relevant.
And anyone listening to Trump’s threatening overture to his presidency this week would hardly think we have entered the era of soft power, famously defined by Prof Joseph Nye Jr as the ability to change the behaviour of others through attraction and persuasion. In fact, this appears to be the era of threats and sticks.
