BFPG's July 2026 Review
A review of BFPG’s activities and responses to the major global events of July 2026.
An update from BFPG,
It’s with very mixed feelings that I write to announce that our Director, Evie Aspinall, has been offered and accepted a role in No10 as Special Adviser to the new Prime Minister.
Evie has been with BFPG since 2020 and has led the organisation as its Director since 2023. She has solidified its reputation as the UK’s leading voice on the intersection between domestic politics and international affairs, as well as directing all of BFPG’s research and engagement. We are very grateful for everything she has done for the organisation and wish her every success in her new role.
We are now actively launching a search for a worthy successor to take BFPG to the next level: please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to discuss the role or have ideas about possible candidates, please reach out to jw@strategyinternational.co.uk for more information.
Until the new Director is in place, I will step up as Executive Chair to support the extended BFPG team and ensure that we continue uninterrupted all our existing programmes and relationships. I look forward to meeting with our friends and partners soon.
David Landsman OBE
Executive Chair of the British Foreign Policy Group
Strengthening National Resilience
In May, BFPG was delighted to partner with Wilton Park for a two-day conference on how the UK can build a genuine whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach to national security. The resulting report, authored by BFPG Senior Researcher Jack Pannell, is now out.
Russia remains the clearest immediate threat, but vulnerabilities across critical national infrastructure, supply chains, disinformation and climate are equally pressing and increasingly hard to separate. An enduring "island mentality" understates how exposed the UK really is, and preparedness has not kept pace. Communicating this to a public preoccupied with the cost of living, and sceptical of political messengers, remains the central challenge.
There are models to learn from, from Estonia and Finland's decades of investment in conscription and civic cohesion to Denmark and Sweden's newer strategies. UK Government currently lacks leadership and structure in this space. Ideas raised include: a responsible minister, a ring-fenced budget, and mechanisms that treat citizens as participants in resilience rather than an audience to be informed.
Annual Survey of UK Public Opinion on Foreign policy and Global Affairs
This month we launched our eighth Annual Survey of UK Public Opinion on Foreign Policy. Findings include that that British trust in the United States has fallen sharply under Trump, pushing the public towards Europe — though this is more a retreat from Washington than genuine enthusiasm for Brussels, and it weakens once real trade-offs are raised. The same wariness runs deepest among young people, and while the public wants national security prioritised, its willingness to pay for it is shrinking, leaving little guaranteed consent for the hard choices ahead.
Drawing on the findings of the survey BFPG Executive Chair David Landsman examines what the public think about national resilience, and how government can best rally support.
Following the appointment of a new Cabinet by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Senior Researcher Jack Pannell looks at what the BFPG's 2026 Survey tells us about how Andy Burnham and his Cabinet can achieve their foreign policy goals.
Communications and External Affairs Manager Sofia Pennacchietti examines the public's views on international development, and how it can fit into a wider UK foreign policy strategy