A CALL by senior diplomats for the “elitist” Foreign Office to be ditched and rebranded to face Britain’s colonial legacy head-on was welcomed by anti-racism campaigners today.

Moazzam Malik, former director-general at the Foreign Office and one of the authors of a report, said the current department building “speaks of our past rather than our future.”

Leading figures in diplomacy and international development have called for a renewed vision of British foreign affairs in the report from UCL Policy Lab and Hertford College.

Recommendations include a new name and premises for the Foreign Office, describing the department’s official title — Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) — as “anchored in the past.”

Department buildings featuring portraits of colonial leaders were described as “somewhat elitist and rooted in the past.”

The report also suggests Britain should “face our historical legacy head-on,” stating: “Former colonies are making increasingly vocal demands around the need for reparations from colonialism and compensation for the loss and damage arising from historical industrial emissions.”

Stand Up To Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu welcomed the findings but added that the Foreign Office “needs more than a rebranding exercise.”

“Demands from around the world for reparations for enslavement, colonialism and compensation for the loss and damage arising from historical industrial emission must be met and delivered,” she told the Star.

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts co-founder Zita Holbourne said that she agreed that it is “high time that the name of the department should be reviewed and changed and the whole department be decolonised and include art representative of diverse communities.”

“The legacies of colonialism and enslavement of African people are ever present at the FCDO and other institutions and create a hostile environment and barrier to achieving race equality,” she said.

Ms Holbourne set up the pop-up TUC Roots Culture Identity art exhibition between 2013 and 2023, which was also displayed in the FCDO and was involved in negotiations with the Cabinet Office during her role as PCS union vice-president to urge it to decolonise all departments.

A Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak does not agree that the department is elitist and should remove colonial-era paintings, adding that he is “proud of the UK’s history.”