This week, for the first time, the Union flag will fly above the Department for International Development. Gordon Brown, when Prime Minister, decreed that all public buildings should fly the flag; but DFID somehow evaded his command. When challenged about this — and about why there was no portrait of the Queen in the reception hall — by the present Secretary of State, Andrew Mitchell, officials muttered that they were a ‘very international’ department. The Queen, being the head of the Commonwealth, has a more international role than anyone else in this country, but this had somehow passed them by. Now Mitchell has ordered that the flag be flown for Prince Philip’s 90th birthday this week and that a full-length portrait of his wife be hung. It is interesting that the department sees its international role in opposition to any national one. Unfortunately, it is right. Under a law passed by the last government, overseas aid is not allowed to assist British interests.
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