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Written by Katharine Hirst
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Friday, 29 June 2007 |
Sir Digby Jones, the former CBI (Confederation of British Industry)
chief, has been named as Britain's minister of trade and investment. He
will travel the world championing British exports and persuading
potential investors of Britain’s merits.
Of course the creation of a ministerial post requires solely a wave of
the Prime Ministerial wand. But Sir Digby can’t have any real power
since trade policy is now in the European Union’s hands, with
investment policy seemingly heading in the same direction.
So Sir Digby will be called a minister but will essentially be a roving
ambassador with a fancier title. Indeed he shall be working out of the
new and simplistically titled Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform – which no longer controls trade policy anyway. Could
his appointment just be an exercise in spin? Surely not!
The appointment will disappoint the Tories (Sir Digby has always seemed
a natural conservative), and it won’t please the Americans either. Last
year he apparently accused Washington of "protectionism and bullying"
in its approach to British business. He is also famously Eurosceptic.
Unfortunately, even as a minister of state he won’t be able to give
these useful attitudes any policy relevance. What a shame.
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