The UK government has been accused of neglecting a body set up to promote British “soft power” and wasting the efforts of senior figures from culture, sport and the creative industries who were recruited to join it.
The soft power council was launched to fanfare in January last year by the then-foreign secretary David Lammy and culture secretary Lisa Nandy, who argued it would help boost UK economic growth and security by bringing together experts from a range of sectors to promote British interests overseas.
The council’s 26 members include Sir Peter Bazalgette, pro-chancellor of the Royal College of Art; General Sir Nick Carter, former chief of defence staff; Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, chair of Sport Wales; Sir Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum; and Roland Rudd, chair of public relations firm FGS Global.