The budget makes specific mention of finding savings in “high-cost locations such as New York” — which could include a £12 million luxury apartment in the city bought for diplomats in 2019 to help negotiate trade deals with the United States following Brexit.
The Foreign Office at the time said it secured the “best deal possible” for the seven-bedroom flat, which occupies the whole 38th floor of 50 United Nations Plaza and has a library, six bathrooms and a powder room.
Earlier this year U.K. spending watchdogs the National Audit Office (NAO) and parliament’s own Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised significant concerns over the state of Britain’s creaking overseas diplomatic estate. Around 933 of its properties (around 15 percent of the total) have been assessed as not being sound or operationally safe. FCDO estimates that it would cost £450 million to clear its maintenance backlog.
PAC noted that after selling off large assets, such as its embassy compounds in Bangkok and Tokyo, FCDO “has no remaining large assets that are viable to sell.”
It is the latest in a series of cutbacks to Britain’s soft power clout. The government has already come under fire for slashing its international aid budget, which also helps fund the BBC World Service.
Olivia O’Sullivan, director of the UK in the World program at the Chatham House think tank, said it was “unsurprising” that the government is looking at its overseas estate to meet the “significant cutbacks” at the FCDO.