The Government has made use of the ‘soft power’ of the Commonwealth to attempt to influence a change in laws discriminating against the LGBTQ in more than half of the international organisation’s members, i can reveal. The Commonwealth Scholarships Commission (CSC), which is part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), has launched a fellowship to offer members of the LGBT community from across the 56-member nation group places at some of the UK’s top universities. Professor Robin Mason, chairman of the CSC, revealed the fellowship programme will be part of the commission’s £28m annual budget and will ensure those people joining the programme from some of the 35 Commonwealth nations where homosexuality is considered a crime “are not compromised in any way”. Professor Mason said: “This year we will be running a professional fellowship programme for fellows from Commonwealth countries looking at LGBTQ equality. “In that sense, we will be running a recognised equality, inclusion, and human rights programme, but it’s not our role as a commission to be involved in political discussions about human rights, that’s a matter for the sponsoring body which is the FCDO.”