Johnson merges DfID into Foreign Office

Boris Johnson has announced plans to scrap the Department for International Development and merge it into the Foreign Office, sparking criticism from senior Conservatives.

The prime minister said DfID would be part of a new department, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to make sure diplomacy and aid worked together. The merger will take place in September, putting DfID's budget, almost £10bn in 2020, under the control of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

DfID was set up in the early days of Tony Blair's Labour government in 1997. Johnson said a separate department was no longer the best way to maximise British influence and that the UK would stick to its target of spending 0.7% of gross national income.

Johnson has been considering merging DfID and the Foreign Office since he was foreign secretary in Theresa May's government. Rightwing Conservative MPs and newspapers such as the Daily Mail have called for the department's abolition and for money to be linked more closely to Britain's economic interests.

Johnson told the House of Commons: "This will unite our aid with our diplomacy and bring them together in our international effort … For too long frankly UK overseas aid has been treated as some giant cashpoint in the sky that arrives without any reference to UK interest."

Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Johnson of using the move as a distraction from the government's problems over Covid-19, rising benefit claims and a climbdown over providing free meals for poor schoolchildren under pressure from footballer Marcus Rashford.

Senior Conservatives joined Starmer in criticising the decision. Former prime minister David Cameron said it was a mistake that would result in "less expertise, less voice for development at the top table and ultimately less respect for the UK overseas".

Former development secretary Andrew Mitchell said scrapping the department would "destroy one of the most effective and respected engines of international development anywhere in the world".