“…This budget cut was reflected, institutionally, by the merging of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development into the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in September 2020, which marked the end of a fully-fledged and independent ministry devoted to the question of international development. 54 The UK's Commonwealth trade routes lag behind the density of the UK's networks with the EU, 55 even now. And if attraction lies, as noted above with Nye, "in the eye of the beholder", then the UK's position is far from secure.…”