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Boris Johnson has been left humiliated after one of his pet policies was quietly cancelled after just 13 months.

In February last year, the Foreign Secretary trumpeted the launch of a £700 million fund to ‘empower’ poor countries to counter Russian influence and Islamic extremism.

But Theresa May’s deputy David Lidington today announced the fund would be shut down and its funds diverted elsewhere.

The creation of the Empowerment Fund, driven by Mr Johnson, was heavily criticised at the time for funnelling money away from the foreign aid budget.

The money - £700 million over four years - was managed by the National Security Council, but “hosted” by the Foreign Office as part of a government strategy to have 30% of foreign aid money spent by departments other than the Department for International Development (DfID).

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Some feared the fund would be less transparent and open to scrutiny than money controlled by DfID.

The fund was suspended after just six months after a scathing National Audit Office report found it two other funds weren’t transparent enough, were being managed chaotically, and departments were “rushing” funding to meet spending benchmarks.

The fund had yet to spend any of its £700 million budget when it was suspended.

A government review of cross-government funds, published today, recommended the fund be scrapped entirely, saying its remit “overlapped significantly” with other funds.

The report read: “Integrating its aims into the remaining Funds would improve efficiency, simplify governance and strengthen delivery.”

In a written statement today, Mr Lidington confirmed he would accept the recommendations of the review and shut down the fund, transferring the money to two other cross-government aid funds.