We like to keep tabs on what the main parties in the UK and around the world are saying on international development, so today I was at Conservative Campaign Headquarters for the launch of their international development manifesto. Conservative leader Michael Howard said:

...however effective our aid programme is - and it is absolutely vital - we have to recognise that on its own it cannot solve the problems of global poverty. Good governance, free enterprise, free markets and fairer trade - these offer an end to global poverty.

The growth of free markets will do more to lift people out of poverty than all the aid programmes in the world. The failure of many politicians to grasp this fundamental truth has left millions of people stranded in poverty.

But the richer countries must also act in accordance with what they know to be true: free trade spreads prosperity. Protectionism does not. Protection for developed countries at the expense of the developing world must come to an end. It is both immoral and hypocritical. Instead of putting up barriers, we need to open our markets to the developing countries.

Alan Duncan was also present and emphasized the problem of poor governance, in advance of Friday's Africa Commission report:

We support the Africa Commission's attempt to find a solution to Africa's many and tragic problems. We want it to succeed. But judging from the contents that we have seen, there is a real danger that the report will fail adequately to address the crucial issue of African governance.

Too often, today and in the past, African rulers have failed to meet their obligations towards their people. Bad government is the enemy of good aid.

It places blame and obligation on donors, but no sufficient corresponding obligation on recipients.