<\/p>\n
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, bringing his former role as the UK\u2019s special representative for international trade and investment into focus. He denies any wrongdoing. But what was that role?<\/p>\n
The Duke of York, as he was then known, became the UK\u2019s special representative for international trade and investment in October 2001. The role was described by UK Trade & Investment as an \u201cextensive programme of targeted engagements both in the UK and overseas to promote the interest of UK industry and the UK as a whole\u201d.<\/p>\n
In essence, the role involved high-level lobbying, as well as the handling of sensitive \u201cconfidential briefs\u201d regarding investment opportunities. It required close coordination with the UK\u2019s trade and diplomatic missions abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
He started the role during Tony Blair\u2019s government, after retiring from the navy in July 2001. In 2011, No 10, then under the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, said the appointment was made \u201cwith the agreement of the then foreign secretary [Jack Straw] and the trade and industry secretary [Patricia Hewitt]\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Not just Labour, no. When Mountbatten-Windsor was facing calls to step down from the role in 2011, endorsements still arrived from Conservative ministers. George Osborne, the then chancellor, said: \u201cWe have confidence in him doing the job and we think he\u2019s done a good job in recent years. He\u2019s promoted British exports. What we want is everyone promoting British exports at the minute and Prince Andrew has done that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, the former trade minister Digby Jones joined in, stating that Mountbatten-Windsor had \u201cput the country first\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important we, as business, say, let\u2019s use what he can do to actually create some profit, employ some people, pay some tax,\u201d the peer added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
He was. Even at the start of the new millennium, there were strong views held by supporters and opponents of a man who had a reputation for acting as a \u201cplayboy prince\u201d.<\/p>\n
In his book Entitled, the author Andrew Lownie outlines how the former trade secretary Peter Mandelson assisted Mountbatten-Windsor in landing the role of the UK\u2019s special representative for international trade and investment \u2013 while his brother, the then Prince Charles, tried to scupper it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was also claimed that Prince Charles was trying to block Andrew\u2019s new role as \u2018a disaster waiting to happen\u2019 on the grounds that his brother simply couldn\u2019t be trusted not to disgrace himself,\u201d Lownie wrote. \u201cA palace source said that the Prince of Wales was extremely concerned about Andrew\u2019s playboy image: \u2018He thinks he won\u2019t be able to resist the temptation of mixing business with pleasure. This is a high-profile appointment which demands tact and discretion.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The post involved meetings with a series of UK and international business people, as well as foreign leaders, where he would essentially facilitate introductions. These could be mundane and, according to those involved, useful, but dealings with allegedly corrupt regimes, including Kazakhstan, caused awkward publicity. This was particularly true when it emerged that the Kazakh president\u2019s son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev, had bought Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s former house at Sunninghill Park in 2007, allegedly for \u00a33m over the asking price.<\/p>\n
The Kazakh ties persisted, however. In 2010 Mountbatten-Windsor met the UK\u2019s BG Group on three occasions in the five weeks between 25 March and 28 April, including a rendezvous in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n
In March 2011, his links to Saif Gadaffi, the son of the then Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, led to calls for him to be stripped of the role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
No. There was no salary for the post. However, expenses and travel costs were paid, which one MP suggested in 2011 \u201chas cost the taxpayer about \u00a34m in the last 10 years, not including the costs to protection officers\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It could, and the UK still has a variety of figures acting as trade envoys. There are a series of parliamentarians who fill region-specific roles. While many of these posts are a lot less high-profile, the former cricketer Ian Botham was appointed a UK trade ambassador to Australia in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
#Andrew #MountbattenWindsors #trade #envoy #role #news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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