TORIES are urging PM Boris Johnson to slash foreign aid after a report revealed 45million has been splurged on nanny state projects abroad.
The biggest recipient China got 7.9million.
That included 6.6million to research how much salt Chinese people used when cooking at home.
India was given 1.5million to send texts to its citizens urging them to drink less.
Chile got 300,000 to evaluate its sugar tax while Bangladeshi imams were gifted 800,000 to preach against tobacco.
More than 600,000 of Britains foreign aid money was used to fund a programme tackling malnutrition in Indian children – much of which was spent tackling childhood obesity because of the World Health Organisations change in definition.
The report says global quangos such as the WHO have changed definitions so that these lifestyle interventions can qualify as spending towards the UNs 0.7 per cent in international aid.
The sums, doled out between 2005 and 2018, were uncovered by the Institute of Economic Affairs.
David Cameron made a law when he was PM that Britain must spend 0.7 per cent around 14billion of its yearly income on foreign aid.
Senior Tory Philip Davies on Tuesday night called on Mr Johnson to divert the cash to public services at home instead if he wins Decembers election.
He told The Sun: It is infuriating to see tax-payers hard-earned money wasted on pet projects abroad.
Report author Mark Tovey said: Misallocating UK aid money on nanny-state projects instead of targeted and effective programmes costs lives.
He added: said: The British government is generous in its foreign aid spending and the public are broadly supportive, but anti-obesity drives and stop smoking campaigns do not fit in with the common conception of aid spending, which includes feeding the hungry and tackling infectious diseases.
Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: Foreign aid money is supposed to help the poorest people in the world, not to feather the nest of wealthy academics.
David Cameron made a law when he was PM that Britain must spend 0.7 per cent around 14billion of its yearly income on foreign aid
Boris Johnson has been urged to slash foreign aid after a report revealed 45million has been splurged on ‘nanny state’ projects abroad
