Médecins Sans Frontières has called the Ebola situation in DR Congo ‘deeply alarming.’ That is not a phrase they use lightly. The warning landed on desks in Whitehall at 10am. By lunchtime, DFID had triggered its emergency protocol.
Sources tell me the Foreign Office is worried. Not about the disease itself. About the optics. A slow response now would be a gift to the opposition. Labour has been sharpening its attack lines on aid cuts. This gives them ammunition.
The numbers are stark. Over 2,000 cases. A fatality rate approaching 67%. The outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri is now the second largest in history. MSF’s country director said the situation is ‘out of control’ in some areas. That word, ‘control,’ is the one that unsettles ministers.
Let me walk you through the power dynamics. DFID’s humanitarian director convened a conference call with the WHO, Red Cross, and MSF at 2pm. The Treasury was notably absent. That is a tell. The chancellor’s team is still blocking new spending unless the health secretary personally signs off. A turf war is brewing.
Backbench Conservatives are restless. The 0.7% aid pledge is a sacred cow for many. But the Brexit chaos has drained bandwidth. One MP told me: ‘No one in the 1922 Committee cares about Congo. They care about customs unions.’ So the aid response becomes a backroom negotiation. Quiet. Undocumented. Classic Whitehall.
Polling data from YouGov, leaked to me this afternoon, shows that only 32% of the public think the UK is doing enough on global health emergencies. That number will drop if this spirals. Ministers know it.
The actual response: a £23 million package is being assembled. Part of it goes to contact tracing. Part to safe burial teams. A smaller slice to community engagement. The real battleground is vaccination logistics. The new vaccine requires storage at -80 degrees. That means generators. Fuel. Logistics. The military might be pulled in.
Here is the inside-baseball truth. This is not about Ebola. It is about the credibility of the aid budget. If the government fumbles this, the next spending review gets ugly. The usual suspects are already sharpening their knives.
The game is moving fast. I will update when the next crack appears.
