Soft power sell-off: anger as British Council announces sale of historic Madrid building | Foreign policy

The historic Palacete building at 31 Paseo del General Martínez Campos in Madrid’s upscale Chamberí district has been home to the British Council in Spain for nearly 70 years.

Every year, approximately 5,000 students learn English through 35 classes, take exams and establish cultural ties with the United Kingdom. Over the years, hundreds of thousands people of madrid (People from Madrid), it also serves as a hub for the expat community.

But it looks like that’s not the case anymore. News that the high-end building was to be sold brought staff to the streets in protest. While there is no confirmation of where the 320 staff will be placed, there is anger and real concerns that their jobs could be at risk. It is understood that the sale of another building in Barcelona has also been proposed.

This is part of a growing response from British Council staff across Europe to radical cuts and restructuring; The organization’s top management has warned that the world’s leading soft power organization could otherwise disappear “within a decade”.

This week staff in Italy staged a national strike and protest against plans to halt English language teaching in the country after 80 years, with 108 out of 130 jobs lost.

A desperate bid to pay off the £197 million outstanding debt from the Covid-era Conservative government’s emergency loan on commercial terms, with interest due by September, has led to harsh action.

Alongside anger at the UK government’s failure to protect an organization founded almost a century ago to fight fascism and communism, staff also expressed deep concern about the organisation’s leadership and the way measures were implemented.

The letter of no confidence in the senior leadership team to London trustees was signed by 298 of Spain’s 560 staff, seen by the Guardian. It states that the sale “reflects short-sighted decisions, poor leadership, and poorly communicated changes made without adequate consideration for personnel or organizational stability.”

The report also noted that there was a great deal of anger about the direction the British Council had taken in the last few years; these include “successive restructuring, investments yielding little return, short-termism, lack of accountability and centralized decision-making”.

Another letter of no confidence was sent by staff in Italy, further letters arrived from France, and it appeared that more would follow. There are also concerns that the British Council’s building in Paris may be at risk of being sold in the future and services are being reduced in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia and Austria.

Workers’ Commission (CCOO) union representative Stuart Anderson said there were questions about the organisation’s management strategy. One of these was “very centralized decision-making, and you could say it was a colonialist attitude: ‘London knows best’, with little regard for local markets or the field expertise built up over decades in those markets.”

Staff also called on the UK government to stop the “death spiral”. The union expressed its hope that “a government trying to reset the relationship between the UK and the EU will not damage the soft power organizations that have been there for nearly 100 years.”

Anderson, who has worked for the organization for nearly 20 years and is chair of the British Council’s European Works Council, added: “It’s a huge concern in the UK that people don’t really understand or understand what the British Council means to millions of people around the world. The analogy for that is the BBC World Service. The organization has a brand that’s really respected around the world and it’s being torn down.”

Few seem to question its value. There is support from many quarters; from art, universities, army, politicians.

Former Labor leader and former British Council chief executive Neil Kinnock said: “The British Council does not want to make these cuts. They are being forced into it by Treasury requirements.”

Kinnock, whose son Stephen, an MP, was a former British Council country director in Russia before being sacked by the Russian government, said it was set up to combat fascism and communism and “to combat the understanding of Britain and its values ​​- now called soft power. And they have done it brilliantly for 92 years.”

There was widespread support from “those who saw the operation in action.”

Kinnock added: “In a world in turmoil, especially post-Brexit, where the far right is on the march and we are not currently acting as a leading military or even political force, the soft power exercised by the British Council is absolutely invaluable.

“I have a lot of sympathy for my staff, and so does the leadership,” he said. The British Council had been “camping out” in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and fighting “a hell of a fight” for the last three or four years.

Kinnock said: “What the government needs to do is either find a way to cancel the debt or even reschedule the debt. Because losing the British Council is in absolutely no one’s interest.”

If it were to disappear, “we would lose our recognition, reputation and countless contacts around the world, including current and future decision-makers in every field”.

It is understood that the organization, which operates in more than 100 countries, will continue its activities in Spain, where it has been operating for 85 years, and that the sale of the property does not mean withdrawal from Madrid or Barcelona.

A spokesman for the British Council said it “remains committed to building connections, trust and understanding between people in the UK and countries in Europe”.

It continued to face financial difficulties and was “taking all necessary steps to significantly reduce costs and increase our income”, including the proposed sale of some buildings, to preserve as many jobs as possible, maintain its “vital” business and secure its long-term future in Europe and around the world.

“We understand that the proposed changes may be concerning for our colleagues, students and partners, and we are committed to managing this process with transparency and care.”