The Commonwealth “turning the corner but not quite round it yet”

New funds and plans to try to re-energise a product of Empire

“An actual family with a royal family at its heart”

“The Commonwealth is turning the corner – it’s not quite round it, yet but it’s turning,” a leading official involved with the 53-country organisation, which gets more brickbats than praise, said to me at the end of the past week’s two-day summit and forums in London.

That just about sums up the most optimistic view possible on the current status of this strange post-empire body which, if it owes allegiance to anything or anybody, seems to do so to Queen Elizabeth who was 92 yesterday. She has been the organisation’s head, and has held it together, since her mid 20s. Two days ago she secured agreement from the 52 leaders attending the summit that Prince Charles, 69, her eldest son and heir to the British throne, will in due course take over from her.

The Queen attending a birthday concert at London’s Albert Hall

The Queen and Prince Charles are therefore two of the week’s three top winners. The third is probably Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, whose country has shed its previous disinterest and is beginning to become a prominent player. It is doubling its contribution to a technical co-operation fund and providing funds and development work in other areas, though had hoped to do more.

India’s new involvement was directly sought by the British government in a series of moves over the past year. This reflected both the organisation’s urgent need for an injection of fresh thinking and action, and India’s growing international importance – it is expected to become the Commonwealth’s largest economy in the next year or two when its GDP overtakes Britain, and it accounts for more than half the Commonwealth’s 2.4bn people.

Modi was wooed personally by Prince Charles, among others, to attend CHOGM, which no Indian prime minister had done since 2009, and to step up India’s involvement. Modi then championed the prince in discussions to inherit the Queen’s role.

Questions at a press conference two nights ago about whether there were any objections to Charles drew answers that suggested not all the countries wanted him. The Ghana president, Nana Akufo-Addo, revealingly said there was “a strong consensus”, and Theresa May, the British prime minister said it was “unanimous” which, of course, does not mean there were no dissenters during the discussions.

Suggestions that the role could rotate around the members did not have much support, and there was no other international figure of sufficient stature. The decision could have been delayed, but the British government and royal family lobbied effectively against that happening.

After the three winners, May was the fourth important figure this week, but more as a survivor. She desperately wanted to use the summit to pitch the UK’s interest in increasing its role as a trading partner after Brexit. Instead she was distracted by a row over the UK’s appalling treatment of Caribbean British immigrants, whose lives have been devastated by a “hostile environment” on immigration that she determinedly pushed as home secretary before becoming prime minister.

Narendra Modi sitting in a prime position on the right of  Theresa May and Baroness Scotland at the Windsor Castle retreat

For months, she and her government ignored reports in The Guardian about the problems and rebuffed parliamentary questions, till a week ago when May’s office refused to arrange a meeting with Caribbean leaders. That triggered a crisis that continues this weekend despite days of apologies and offers of compensation.

This points to how accident-prone the summit, known as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), can be. It was boycotted by three countries in 2013, and only 27 the 50 that attended were represented by heads of state, because of the human rights record of Sri Lanka, the host. It could be heading for a repeat of that because Rwanda, where human rights abuses have a longer and more embedded history than Sri Lanka, has almost unbelievably been chosen for the 2020 summit.

No management structure

The primary problems are that the 53-country body itself does not have an effective leadership or management structure, and has been floundering for at least ten years as a worthy collection of nations with many laudable causes but no clear international role (which it did have for over 30 years against South Africa’s apartheid).

The Queen presides but does not lead, though Prince Charles, who champions various environmental and other causes, may begin to be more active before he formally takes over. The country that hosts the biennial CHOGM is regarded as the leader for the next two years, so Britain has that role till 2020. Frequently, however, the country involved has little capability or interest to push more than the ceremonials and summit.

Then there is the Secretariat, housed in Marlborough House close to the London’s royal palaces. At its head is a secretary general appointed by the member countries. The post is currently held by Baroness (Patricia) Scotland, 62, who was born in the former British colony of Dominica and was attorney general in the UK’s last Labour government.

Narendra Modi walking towards Theresa May and Baroness Scotland at St James’s Palace at the start of the summit

In the two years that she has held the post, the general view is that the secretariat has not functioned well – preparations for CHOGM were hived off to a special unit in the Cabinet Office reporting direct to the May and headed by Tim Hitchens, a senior Foreign Office official who was earlier ambassador to Japan and assistant private secretary to the Queen. Scotland’s predecessor, who came from India and held the post for eight years, was regarded as charming but ineffectual – maybe partly because of India’s lack of interest.

This is why it was crucial for this CHOGM to set a new course while the Queen was still the focal point. It was due to be held in Vanuatu in the Pacific, which was hit by a devastating cyclone, so the UK gladly took over, enabling the Queen (who no longer flies abroad) to be present.

Nothing was done this week to tackle the diffused management problem, but officials hope the secretariat will work more effectively because the mass of declarations that have emerged are not just laudable causes but are, this time, anchored in more finance-backed action by individual states than before.

Under four bland themes of a “common future” that is fairer, more secure, more prosperous and shared, these include: a Blue Charter to protect oceans from the effects of climate change, pollution and over-fishing; a declaration on cyber security backed by £15m from the UK government to help individual countries; and proposals for girls’ education and observer work on elections.

With increased funding of schemes, the challenge now is to turn good intentions into action that will prove the Commonwealth’s worth. Individual countries are taking responsibility for implementing sections of the Blue Charter with, for example, Australia, Belize and Mauritius focussing on coral reefs, Sri Lanka on mangrove restoration, and Vanuatu on ocean plastics supported by the UK with a £60m commitment to a clean ocean alliance. On cyber security it will be India, Singapore and the UK.

Prince Charles’s new all-electric Jaguar I-Pace heading the summit cars driving down The Mall – Jaguar Land Rover cars manufactured in the UK by India’s Tata Motors seemed to have a monopoly on the leaders’ transport

Trade did not figure in the two days as much as had been expected, but an ambitious target was set to increase the total between member countries to $2 trillion by 2030, up from $600bn in 2016 and an expected $700bn in 2020.

At the Windsor retreat, Modi focussed on the need to help small countries, especially island states, with climate change and other environmental problems. He stressed that aid should be geared to what the recipients need, not donors’ agendas. With Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Malta, India is creating a £5m small states trade finance facility to be managed by the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank and India’s Bank of Baroda. This will benefit India because it will help it develop relationships at a time when China is also looking for naval bases and ocean alliances.

India’s involvement is not however so ambitious as its earlier idea of hosting a trade and investment centre, or “business hub”, which Modi was thought to favour. Initially there was a general welcome for the idea, but the Indian commerce ministry lost enthusiasm, while the secretariat felt it would be losing a key role. A joint international exercise with private sector federations is now being explored.

India has accepted this outcome, seemingly having learned that changes and interventions can only happen gradually. “Reform and reinvigoration is a process and not an event – there is lots more to be done, but it is a good start, “says Manoj Ladwa, a London-based Indian businessman who organised Modi’s overseas Indians’ assemblies in London this week and in 2015 and helped with his 2014 election campaign.

Sensitive issues avoided

But key sensitive issues were avoided this week. Theresa May talked at the opening session about the need to eliminate old colonial laws that banned same-sex relationships, and she referred to the subject again at the end. Nothing was heard however on this during the summit’s formal sessions, nor was there anything in the communiqué, probably because 37 member countries (including India) would have felt criticised and pressured.

Freedom of expression and protection for journalists also failed to figure, despite recent killings of journalists, and even though the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association (CJA) and other organisations produced a new set of principles on freedom of expression and the rule of law. Again India, where there have been recent killings, would have felt pressured. William Horsley, a former BBC journalist and prominent CJA member, says the failure “casts doubt on the capacity and conscience of the Commonwealth and its elected leaders to live up to the much-vaunted ‘Commonwealth values’ ”.

Since the organisation operates on consensus embracing all 53 members with their different priorities, politics and cultures, it is never likely make waves in these contentious areas, and will always fall short of implementing the “common values” that it proudly pronounces.

Strengthen development

The only way for it to prove its worth therefore is probably to strengthen its development role and turn its plans into action. Taking a cautiously optimistic view David White, head of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in London, says that “a refreshed Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, new working groups, the Blue Charter, and investment to support small states and to tackle trafficking and child exploitation point to a renewed energy and purpose, at least in the short term”.

Meanwhile the cheap jibes will continue. “Any 80-year-old institution based on the contours of a defunct 19th-century empire and largely held together by the charming drive of a 91-year-old woman is going to struggle to prove its modern relevance,” wrote a Guardian columnist this week.

Most of the severest critics are outsiders, who have little experience of, or interest in, what it actually is or does. There are of course voices such as the CJA’s Horsley, who understandably despair of basic rights being ignored.

Over recent months however, listening to people involved from different countries, it has become apparent to me that the Commonwealth, however insignificant it may seem compared with other multilateral organisations, is especially valued by the 30-plus small states because of the development and other aid and advice they receive, and because it gives them a voice, however small, in international affairs. Done effectively, that would make it worthwhile.

God Save the Queen!

“It’s an actual family with a royal family at its heart – it wouldn’t survive without the royal family who can speak to heads of government like no-one else can,” Lord (Paul) Boateng, a former British high commissioner to South Africa and Labour government cabinet minister, said at the launch of a mostly negative book on the Commonwealth this week.

As the future family head, Prince Charles will be inheriting a much more crucial task than he probably realises, which will require much more sustained focus than many of his other devolved activities.  God Save the Queen!

Other articles in this series:

Modi hits a winning streak in London

Theresa May contrast with Modi on human rights as Commonwealth summit nears

India to take on more Commonwealth responsibilities

India considers a leading role in a de-centralised (British) Commonwealth

Could India jointly co-lead the Commonwealth and counter China?