As the UK forges a new set of global partnerships post-Brexit, questions remain over its commitment to the continent after the reduction in the aid budget. But the UK’s minister for Africa James Duddridge argues that African countries see the UK as a long term partner and that historical and financial ties remain as strong as ever.

The UK is in global diplomatic realignment, and not just in Europe. While the UK was close to the Chinese under previous prime minister David Cameron, the current executive under Boris Johnson is far closer to the US position; speaking up on the Uyghur genocide and on repression in Hong Kong, and backing away from including Chinese technology companies in core UK communications networks. Will this realignment be visible in Africa?

Brexit diplomacy

There is now a bloat of foreign powers seeking advantage on the continent, each bringing their own strengths: from the project financing of Chinese infrastructure providers, the technology of the Japanese, the price points of Turkish goods and the agribusiness competence of Brazil.

“We are motoring”, says UK minister for Africa James Duddridge. He points to post-Brexit trade agreements signed with 15 African countries and the advantages that the UK can depend on, such as use of English, the attractiveness of the City of London and the long history of UK corporate engagement on the continent.

“Yes, there are a lot of players, but more and more we’ll be working in consortium across countries, rather than just having a simple offering from country A to country B”, says Duddridge, “and that de-risks some of the purchasing decisions for African countries, [creating] internal checks and balances between countries and companies.”

Critics point to the decision to slash the aid budget from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5% of GDP as a hindrance to post-Brexit diplomacy. “Our ambitions are greater, not less. We spend £10bn ($13.8bn) a year on overseas development assistance,” says Duddridge. “Every partner I have spoken to sees us as a long-term partner. We have to cut our cloth accordingly during Covid-19. Everyone recognises that, but what is important is staying in there and growing with them.”

Much UK aid has shifted to Covid-related spending, such as the £584m contribution to the COVAX initiative to purchase vaccines for least-developed countries.

Cementing further relationships

The UK government also hopes the weight of London as a financial hub will also help cement relationships. African banks have been increasingly cut off from correspondent-banking relationships with the rollout of stringent global regulations after the 2007/2008 financial crisis.

For Duddridge, banks will be helped by a trend towards consolidation funded by private-equity firms – something he saw happen to a previous employer, Banque Belgolaise in Abidjan, now owned by NSIA Group. Some of that, he says, will likely flow through the City of London, with its investor-friendly law courts, stability and access to capital.

“Dual listing is also part of the solution, so you can buy and sell in local currencies, or in sterling. Or for that matter, the New York Stock Exchange or Toronto. [The advantage is] in getting that capital in but also transparently monitoring the price and likely revenues on exit,” he says.

Despite enthusiasm for the free movement of capital, there can still be cognitive dissonance in a push for free trade from the UK, given its recent decision to exit a free trade area because of the loss of sovereign control over borders and economic affairs. “I think we need to be careful about the different parallels between the African Union and the European Union,” says Duddridge, who argues the African Continental Free Trade Area will help the continent to address some of its fragmentation.

“The African continent is much larger […] with quite small countries alongside the big beasts of Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and so forth,” he says. “We have a long history of encouraging trade and putting our money where are mouth is with projects like Trademark East Africa.”

UK’s history goes back centuries
The UK’s history in Africa certainly stretches back centuries. In 1914, Lord Lugard hitched Nigeria’s north to its south. Tensions between those regions have generated much of the conflict of the past century. Given the UK’s own tectonic structural issues with the union today – from Scottish independence to a re-united Ireland – might there be useful and honest conversations about nation building to be had between the UK and Nigeria?

For Duddridge, that could come from diaspora Nigerians, whose perspectives help both countries, with “direct understanding and experience of both home in Nigeria and home in the UK. I think that is a powerful experience,” he says. “But we particularly have got a role to play in some of the smaller countries that will benefit from free trade, that do need to import some intellectual capital from neighbouring countries, as well as to have critical mass in certain areas.”

In essence: dissolve political problems in economic growth . Duddridge’s first job in Africa was in eSwatini, which is landlocked and dependent on revenue from organisations like the Southern African Customs Union. He believes that the UK can help here by providing assistance with improving economic structures, “which is the engine for government – without growth in companies there can’t be taxation, without taxation there can’t be a functioning government that can provide for their citizens.”

‘We have to stand up, but we can’t preach’
He does not want to stray into ‘morality of nations’ territory: “We have to stand up, but we can’t preach”. But he does recognise that the election of Joe Biden in the United States signals as a return of the moral voice in international affairs – compared to the transactional diplomacy of former US president Donald Trump.

On the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia, Duddridge says: “It is an appalling situation because of the lack of humanitarian access. […] There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t been engaged in one way or another.” He also mentions the pressure applied by UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab: “Some of that can be very open, and some of that is best done in private.”

More intimate conversations, over the Horn but also the Sahel, will be continuing with France, despite concerns that Brexit might lead to the end of a quid pro quo between the two countries over security and intelligence assistance in Africa.

“I don’t think that will have any direct impact. We work with the French in the Sahel as part of the coalition including the Germans and the US. We have got 300 troops in MINUSMA [the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali], and support the French with heavy-lift Chinook helicopters as part of Operation Barkhane,” says Duddridge.

Global strategic re-alignment
But, in a nod to the big global strategic re-alignment of the UK, he adds: “But of course the principal intelligence relationship is that of the Five Eyes [Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US], rather than the European Union, which has never been quite as focused on these issues.”

Duddridge concludes: “We will work with all our partners, including the French. I have spoken to [France’s foreign minister] Jean-Yves Le Drian, and I have met with Franck Paris, the Africa adviser to President Emmanuel Macron. It is business as usual and to be frank, Brexit makes no difference to that relationship whatsoever.”

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.