On Tuesday, 24th July 2018 I hosted many key dignitaries from the cultural world in the impressive and historic Locarno Suite in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
The event was held to allow the Government to ask and listen to the views of the cultural sector about how we can support the development of the country’s ‘soft power’ (the ability to affect others to obtain preferred outcomes by the co-optive means of framing the agenda, persuasion and positive attraction).
In an increasingly global world where the use of traditional or ‘hard power’ (the use of physical force to obtain one’s goals) is used less frequently, ‘soft power’ is becoming a more important tool in aiding country’s to achieve their objectives. Examples of UK ‘soft power’ include the British Council, BBC World Service, our world class higher education sector, and diplomatic service whose global reach and influence helps to reach and engage global audiences and to endear them to the UK. The UK’s culture has long helped us reach our objectives as a country, indeed, the internationally recognised Global Ranking of Soft Power index by Portland Communications has ranked the UK the Number One in the world for ‘soft power’.
This ranking is a complete vindication of our country’s cultural reach - but as a general rule, the UK Government itself is not directly involved in promoting and using ‘soft power’. However, the Government has recently announced that we will be publishing a new ‘soft power’ strategy in order to help promote our strengths in this regard and to increase our influence in the world even further.
That is why I invited leaders from across the UK’s arts and culture sector to ask for their views on how the Government can help them to increase this country’s global reach in order to help inform our new strategy. My speech marked the beginning of a consultation with key stakeholders (from organisations such as the British Council) to help us to better understand what has made the UK such a ‘soft power’ giant and what more we could do to ensure that our influence continues to reach all corners of the globe. I look forward to hearing more from the cultural sector and to working on Global Britain.