The Tribune

As the the world’s oldest political association of states looks to be entering a new golden era of prosperity, its relevance is being tested by allegations of corruption and cronyism against its top executive, Peter Young says

The Commonwealth, a successful legacy of Britain’s imperial past, is in the news again. One of the two reasons is welcome to many people, the other is disturbing.

Britain’s momentous decision to break away from the European Union (EU) and to spread its wings once more on the world stage could be of significant benefit to the Commonwealth’s 53 member states - which covers of 2.2 billion people or nearly one third of the world’s population - but a controversy currently surrounding its newly-elected Secretary-General, Baroness Scotland, could seriously damage this important global body.

Despite being the world’s oldest political association of states and covering many regions, the Commonwealth over the years has not captured public imagination generally and its role, purpose and function are little understood.

It is relatively unknown apart from the Commonwealth Games, its most popular event, and the biennial Heads of Government meetings (known as CHOGM) because these gatherings often make headlines when they become a forum for political disputes affecting its members.

Having evolved into a much larger association from a small grouping (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa) headed by Britain as her colonies became independent and self-governing nations after the Second World War, the Commonwealth has been described as a ‘family of nations’ - large and small, with a shared history, values and language together with common legal systems and institutional frameworks and held together by special bonds, including, in some cases, affection as well as ties which are invisible but effective.

It has increasingly operated for the benefit of all its member states via a host of voluntary, philanthropic and non-official organisations, termed ‘the People’s Commonwealth’, as well as through many and varied bodies like the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation fostering aid and practical assistance.

All the while, the hub of the association and its various activities around the world has been the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, which dates back to 1965 and is presided over by a Secretary-General.

More recently, a business culture has begun to be developed, and at the 1997 CHOGM in Edinburgh the main theme was trade and investment, resulting in the establishment of a Caribbean Business Forum whose efforts to promote intra-Commonwealth trade were boosted by the 2015 CHOGM in Malta.

This was significant because for long it had been recognised that in an increasingly competitive and globalised economy regional ties were crucial. Thus, the Commonwealth, with its ready-made network of English-speaking countries, often with shared business practices, had a special kind of ‘economic relevance’.

Less than a year later, there is a new issue for Commonwealth countries, not least the smaller developing ones; namely, how will their economies be affected by Britain’s impending departure from the EU? While they may welcome a potentially advantageous new relationship with Britain, there is also now greater uncertainty because her exit could result in a slowing down of the global economic recovery.

One fear is whether they will continue to benefit from EU trade preferences and from equal or similar preferences from the UK in any new trade deals. At least 20 Commonwealth developing countries rely on the UK market for 10 per cent or more of their trade, and in the case of St Lucia more than 80 per cent of its exports to the EU (mostly bananas) go to the UK.

There are also concerns about aid. Not only will Britain presumably no longer contribute to the European Development Fund, but the smaller and poorer countries are hoping that UK aid levels - a ring-fenced budget of 0.7 per cent of national income - will be maintained in the face of a falling pound.

Moreover, there are worries that these countries will no longer have a champion within the EU to protect their trade and aid interests. One example is that while the EU supplies aid to Africa it also maintains trade barriers against food imports from African countries.

Putting such fears to one side, however, henceforward it now looks as though Commonwealth countries will be able to make new, mutually beneficial, trade arrangements with the UK and also reignite their relationships in other ways. These could include greater security co-operation and more information-sharing across the board. There are also hopes that they may benefit from the easing of what is seen as a measure of discrimination by the UK against Commonwealth immigrants.

Britain has signalled an intention to foster stronger trading links with the whole Commonwealth, not just the stronger economies like Australia, India, Canada, Singapore and South Africa. To some observers at the time, Britain becoming a member of the European Economic Community in 1973 amounted to a betrayal of her old friends, partners and associates, not least because of the ending of preferential trading arrangements for the Commonwealth. While the EU’s share of world trade is declining, the Commonwealth is beginning to boom with some of its economies growing fast. So, as the next generation of observers now argues, the time is ripe for Britain to put right an historical wrong.

Against this background of optimism about the possible beneficial effects of the UK’s renewed involvement in the Commonwealth, serious controversy, stirred up by the UK press, has arisen about the actions of Baroness Scotland who took up her new post of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in April after being elected at last year’s CHOGM.

The Daily Mail in London has raised questions about the procedure leading up to her election to a position in the Commonwealth hierarchy second only to the Queen as its Head.

It has described this as an “utterly corrupt process” in which Baroness Scotland allegedly awarded, in return for votes, bogus knighthoods from an obscure Catholic Order together with offers of other honours and promises of charitable donations.

The same newspaper quotes the Prime Minister of Antigua as saying that Baroness Scotland was not a true Caribbean candidate because she left Dominica as a two-year-old so her principal nationality was British. It has also accused her of profligacy in the expenditure of public money at the Commonwealth Secretariat and with hiring friends and associates at inflated salaries.

Inevitably, such accusations have not only been publicised in the UK media but have been picked up by the press in the Caribbean. In response, Baroness Scotland has described the claims as malicious allegations based on a distorted representation of information in leaked documents.

She has suffered from bad publicity in the past. She is a lawyer and QC and a member of the House of Lords - in 2009, while serving as Attorney General in the Labour Government of the time, she received a heavy fine for employing an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper.

These latest press accusations remain allegations, but Conservative MPs have called for an investigation on the grounds that the Commonwealth is a ‘vitally important and respected institution’ and should not be dragged into any scandal.

At a stage when the Commonwealth is likely to enjoy a resurgence because of increased British direct involvement, the work of the Secretariat will become more demanding and important.

The Secretary-General is responsible for promoting the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values and for driving forward the goals of the Heads of Government in all spheres including trade, aid and technical co-operation.

It is clearly unsatisfactory for the reputation of the holder of such a position to be sullied by the current bad publicity. Whatever the validity of the accusations they should surely not be allowed to fester. The press has a heavy responsibility to substantiate or withdraw allegations of impropriety in order to avoid the risk of bringing the Commonwealth as a whole into disrepute.

Be that as it may, let us hope that most eyes will be firmly fixed on a freshly vibrant Commonwealth led towards greater prosperity by a revitalised Britain, its founding nation now freed from the constraints of EU membership.

This historic and important association may be about to enter a new golden era. For its own credibility its leadership must at all times be above reproach.

• Peter Young is a retired British diplomat living in Nassau. From 1996 to 2000 he was British High Commissioner to The Bahamas.