The British Council was founded in 1934 as fascism was rising across Europe. It opened its first four offices in 1938, as Britain prepared for war, in Bucharest, Cairo, Lisbon and Warsaw. Today it operates in more than 100 countries, but as fascism rises in Europe again, the British Council (BC) is in retreat. It is in effect bankrupt, and the Labour government can choose either to save or condemn it. “We are facing an existential crisis,” Scott McDonald, the CEO since September 2021, told me when we met before Christmas. When I saw him again recently, the Council’s position had become even more perilous because of proposed cuts to the overseas aid budget.
Before the pandemic the BC was profitable and generating revenues of more than £1bn. In addition, it received an annual government grant of £165m. “Covid smashed our revenues,” McDonald said, adding that English teaching and the institution’s exams business had become less profitable since the pandemic because of advances in language-learning technology and AI.
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