On his last day in Downing Street, David Cameron said one of his proudest achievements was to honour the commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on international aid. It was partly an attempt to stake out his legacy and partly a pitch to his successor, Theresa May, to stick to, what remains, a Conservative manifesto pledge.

There were controversies in terms of migration created by individuals outside of the official “Vote Leave” campaign. Yet, contrary to a widely held belief, migration was never the primary issue: the economy was a greater concern. The aforementioned ORB poll showed that 52% of respondents believed the economy to be more important than immigration.

By installing Johnson at the Foreign Office, May has brought in her own little Nixon – ready for the day she needs to go to China. The problem with all this political logic is that it’s for domestic use only. It’s not what the rest of the world sees. And, remember, that’s what this job is for: to be our nation’s chief diplomat, our face to the nations of the earth. It’s not just another piece on the Westminster chessboard.

The “soft power” of shows such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock can help the UK bounce back globally from the shock of Brexit and help Britain remain a cultural international powerhouse, according to a former ambassador and foreign policy adviser to David Cameron. [...] he is “pretty confident” that “there will be a group set up specifically” to promote Britain and its creative industries around the world.

The lopsided reality of Britain’s relationship with the United States was underlined at the White House this week when it was asked to react to findings from the official UK report into the Iraq war. [...] “The United States and the United Kingdom have a special relationship,” he said. “I would expect that that relationship will remain special and strong.” For British diplomats – worried more than ever about their access to power after Barack Obama’s dire warnings over Brexit – such platitudes might sound reassuring.

Britain pledged 100 million pounds ($130 million) on Thursday to help educate girls in the world's poorest countries in a move described by International Development Secretary Justine Greening as a post-Brexit bridge to the world. [...] Greening described the pledge as one of the "best bargains" in development investment the British government could make, saying it would build bridges with "trading partners of the future", particularly in a post-Brexit world.