Boris Johnson handing the Foreign Office control of the aid budget signals a change of priorities

With FCO spending focused on middle-income trading partners, the world's poorest countries may end up with less

Tony Blair used to have a line in his speeches to the effect every Labour government has created a department for international development, and every Tory government has got rid of it".

It has taken a while for this Conservative government to fulfil this historic mission. David Cameron saw the preservation of the department, and the commitment to spend on 0.7% on aid as central to giving the Conservatives a modernising message. He often cowered in front of the Daily Mail, but not on the issue of aid, and its contribution to Britain's reputation. On Tuesday he took the unusual step of branding the merger as a mistake.