One of the most interesting Executive Orders signed by President Trump in his first few hours in the Oval Office was the decree that the US should withdraw from the World Health Organisation. ‘Ooh, that’s a big one’ said Trump as he inked the document…
It is a big one – the US has been the largest or one of the largest funders of the WHO since its foundation. US taxpayer contributions to the organisation ranged between $163 million and $816 million over the last ten years. There can’t be much wrong with an organisation dedicated to the promotion of global health – you’d think. But the WHO’s record is not above scrutiny…
In fact, an independent panel appointed by the WHO itself slammed the organisation’s own response to Covid-19. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response found that Covid could have been prevented, and said the WHO’s Emergency Committee should have declared an international emergency a week earlier than it did. Chinese state influence in the WHO has long been a source for concern to security hawks. WHO big cheese Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus praised China’s “leadership” as the outbreak struck…
In 2022, the UK contributed over $123 million to the WHO’s Core Voluntary Contributions Account, a mechanism that allows the WHO almost total discretion over how the cash is spent. Starmer’s government went further, announcing in November last year: “The UK will invest up to £310 million in core voluntary contribution funds in support of the critical delivery of the WHO’s 14th general programme of work and its transformation agenda.” This is on top of other funding earmarked for the organisation. As Trump quits, the risk is that Labour ministers agree the shortfall should be made up by hard-pressed UK taxpayers…
Justice Secretary David Lammy said catching the ‘one in, one out’ migrant who returned to the UK shows “progress”:
“Today’s news actually reveals that the individual, who spent thousands of pounds trying to get into this country, can be sent back as a result of his biometric data and that is progress.”