Development

Jim Murphy has resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in order to concentrate on his massively unpopular Leadership Campaign in Scotland, where polling tonight shows that he would increase the SNP's lead even further.

Who ought to succeed him as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development? Someone who will say this:

By all means let the 0.7 per cent overseas aid target be enshrined in Statute, although there is plenty of work to be done on policing where a lot of it goes.

We give aid to China, which has landed a rocket on the Moon. We also fund India's foreign aid budget precisely. As a result, she has the money for a mission to Mars. That's right. Mars. We are paying towards Nigeria's active aspiration to launch a rocket into space by 2028.

The Statute Law should specify that the United Kingdom's aid to any given country be reduced by the exact cost of any space programme, or of any nuclear weapons programme, or of any nuclear submarine programme, or of any foreign aid budget of that country's own.

The money thus saved would, however, have to remain within the budget of the Department for International Development.