Critics of the foreign aid cut aren’t bothered about the policy, but the people they believe stand behind it

Posted 1.50pm UK time

The debate (it is remarkable we have to even consider so uncontroversial an issue as worthy of debate) over cutting foreign aid is simple to understand. It is not the policy that particularly bothers critics specifically, but the kind of people they believe stand behind such cuts.

Its supporters in the country, and their (largely) shared worldview are completely anathema to the establishment types who see themselves as the arbiters of progress and virtue, expressed in measures such as foreign aid targets.

The establishment is blinded by cognitive dissonance on this issue. No more so than Messrs Blair, Cameron, and the other ex-Prime Ministers who have expressed ‘regret’ at the Government’s decision.