I think the leader of UKIP is being naive in what he says. First of all, there is the obvious moral question of those countries that are rich helping those countries that are poor. The example of Norway is a prime example of that. The Norway Grants were set up by the Norwegian Government because they felt they’d done very well out of oil and gas and wanted to give something back to people who had less. So, that altruism and that desire to help humanity is hugely strong.

But also, if we look at it economically, aid buys friends and allies. If you don’t provide aid to countries in order to help them and they will remain your friend in the future, someone else will do it. So, yes, it’s right to say that there is a strong moral case for aid, but, in diplomatic terms, it’s also correct to say that, if you offer aid to countries that grow in the future, they will remain your friends and will trade with you in the future, increasing the wealth of their own people and of course buying the goods that you manufacture.