Ministers have been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” over the UK’s soft power connections worldwide, as government advisers urge urgent action to shore up flagship institutions.
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK and a member of the Soft Power Council, said that the UK has “inherited” its position but must not take it for granted. “We’ve got this position which we have inherited, which we believe to be our divine right—it’s not. You have to work to maintain it,” she warned.
Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, described the British Council’s plight as an “existential crisis,” noting that a £200 million Covid-era loan has “crippled its ability to promote UK soft power around the world”.