Even inaptly named Cleverly sees fault lines in Yemen aid argument | John Crace

MPs reckon government is taking calculated risk in assuming Tories are keener on money spent at home

Yemen remained among the worst humanitarian crises in the world, said James Cleverly, junior Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East, in answer to an urgent question from fellow Tory Andrew Mitchell. Two-thirds of the population were in need of assistance. 47,000 people were living in famine conditions and a further 16.2 million were at risk of starvation.

After an opening like this, you rather expected Cleverly to explain why the UK government was increasing its overseas aid budget to the country. Instead he chose to justify cutting it by over 50% during the next financial year. Yemen would be getting at least" 87m of the 214m it was currently receiving. Indeed if it played its cards right, the minister might even bung in an extra 100,000 as a goodwill gesture. The truth was that the UK had already been doing too much to help Yemen and it was time to step back and let the country fend for itself.