I was lucky enough to visit Guildhall in London a couple of months back and spent a very enjoyable afternoon being shown round and hearing about its fascinating history. I had a lovely lunch, too. While in the dining room, I saw Jeremy Browne having a big lunch meeting. It wasn’t long after he’d been appointed as the City of London’s representative to the EU, a role which is right up his street after his stint as a foreign office minister during the Coalition.
Sky News reports that he’s heading off on a tour of EU capitals to showcase the importance of the city of London to the EU.
Explaining the motives for the series of discussions, Mr Browne told Sky News: “I do not want the City of London to be resented by policymakers elsewhere in Europe.
“I do not even want it to be tolerated. I want the City of London to be admired and valued.
“I want it to be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem. That involves getting out there and making our case.”
His tour, which will continue in the months leading up to a ‘Brexit’ vote, is designed to “start a meaningful dialogue about how the City of London can contribute to the EU’s policy goals of increasing economic growth and boosting employment”, according to a person familiar with the agenda.
While the City of London Corporation has not stated whether it will actively support the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, many of its senior officials believe that retaining membership would be of greater benefit to the City and the wider UK economy.
Mr Browne added: “The City of London should retain a strong and vigilant presence in Brussels which is alert to the potential impact of regulation.
“That remains important and our ambition is to facilitate an even better dialogue between policymakers and the businesses that feel the force of any changes.
“At the same time, it is essential that the City of London is engaged and speaks effectively and systematically with political leaders across Europe.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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10 Comments
It might not go down well with some of the purists; but Jeremy Browne would have been high on my personal list to succeed Nick Clegg. I still don’t know why he decided not to stand for re election to parliament, nor why he was sidelined as a government minister. Whenever he appeared on TV he always seemed to give a good account of himself. Was he too ‘Orange Book’ or was there something rattling in the cupboard that those of us outside the inner circle know nothing about? Or was it that he saw the writing on the wall? I’m glad to see that he us still doing his bit and wish he all the best. He’s still a relatively young man in political terms so comebacks are possible.
Is he still a party member? Did he play any part in the 2015 campaign in Taunton or elsewhere?
As I just said on Tim Farron’s statement on banking culture: political realities sometimes require a bit of banker bashing, but it doesn’t need to be stoked unnecessarily. We already have HSBC looking at moving away from the City and if they leave it could be a domino effect.
I think we’ve got an irrational state of affairs where if things are in the public sector then the left wants to give them less scrutiny. It is the same with the right in the private sector.
Good job for Jeremy Browne to land too. I didn’t realise he had this role.
The tour will commence in Rockall and progress via Elba to Surtsey. 🙂
I think Jeremy Browne was a good minister and a sad loss to the parliamentary party. Hopefully a come back at some point!
Tony Dawson 2nd Jan ’16 – 5:33pm Rockall is part of the UK? A Union Jack was planted on it, washed away in bad weather and planted again during the Cold War.
Wake up! Smell the coffee!
The term ‘banker bashing’ belongs in the same category as ‘the war on the motorist’: both are squeals by the privileged when they are being called to called to account.
Let’s have lots more ‘banker bashing’!
I am opposed to indiscriminate “banker bashing” if that is what is going on. But it was true that the City of London lobbied the Labour government to implement light touch regulation from which they made massive short term profits with no consideration for the log term consequences. They did not pay for the consequences of the 2008 stock market crash and the massive government debt that in effect some of the poorest people had to pay for through benefit cuts.
Most bankers were not involved in that but many were, and we should know because Vince Cable made the case better then anyone. For a precious few years he was one of the most popular politicians in the country for that reason.
It is hard to imagine Vince Cable being employed to take on this role, yet he probably know more than most what goes on in the City.
But if you want someone to say how wonderful the City of London is, then maybe Jeremy Browne is a better choice.
Please bear in mind that ‘bankers’ are being used as shorthand in soundbites for the financial industry. The de-mutualisation of the largest building societies, except for the Nationwide, was triggered by Thatcherite Chancellors Howe and Lawson, but a massive cultural change was also needed within and around these organisations.
The Blair-Brown government deliberately failed to regulate financial services effectively. Think insurance derivatives, unregulated, not banks, not in the City of London, but in Mayfair.
They did not pay for the consequences of the 2008 stock market crash and the massive government debt that in effect some of the poorest people had to pay for through benefit cuts.
The massive government debt was wholly down to the policies of the Labour government, who ignored warnings made in the late 90’s to reduce the dependence of core government spending and more importantly forecasted government spending on the disproportionate contributions being made by the financial sector. (Aside: Alistair Darling’s book makes interesting reading.) Ignoring it’s own economic principles:
“The British economy of the future must be built not on the shifting sands of boom and bust, but on the bedrock of prudent and wise economic management for the long term.” [Gordon Brown, speech to the CBI, May 20, 1997]