Prince Andrew is the British Trade Ambassador. He receives no salary for this post but is paid around £250,000 by his mother from her expenses for, well being her son. In addition he does have expenses and travel costs paid for his role as trade ambassador, and these have amounted to over £4 million in the last 10 years.
It has always been dubious whether Andrew was a suitable person for the job, and whether it was right that he inherited the duties from his uncle Prince Edward of Kent. Andrew’s background is naval; he has had no business experience at all and it is thought that the only advantage to the UK is having him in this post, is his title. In short people the world over will turn up to meet a royal and he will always be accompanied on his trips with people who actually know about business.
However there have been more and more calls recently for a review of his role given his somewhat irresponsible behaviour and his choice of friends. He has been criticised for:
using Queen’s flights (at our expense) to travel to golf games etc;
his friendship with Kazak energy tycoon Kenes Rakishev, 29, who was said to have bought Andrew’s house for £3million more than its £12million price tag;
his recent alcohol enhanced, four letter word studded rant about corruption and “*&^%*&^” journa
lists who investigate it, in which he criticized the people who were trying to block the crooked Al Yamama deal, and the French, and the Americans, and just about everyone else who wasn’t British;
the fact that he insists that his daughters receive 24 x 7 royal protection, (paid for by us at the cost of over £500,000 a year) even when they wander all over the world living the high life and doing no royal duties (despite being no longer children);
his ex-wife (with whom he lives) selling meetings with him, because she is broke;
his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the photograph, taken in America with his arm around an underage (there) girl, who subsequently made allegations against Epstein;
the use of his name and his friendship with the ruling family of Qatar to form a voting pact with the country, to help deliver the World Cup to England;
his hosting of a lunch at Buckingham Palace for the son in law of the Tunisian dictator just months before he was deposed;
and finally his close friendship with Saif Gaddafi and the convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni.
This last one was raised in the London parliament by Shadow Trade Minister Chris Bryant, who was warned by their presiding officer to be respectful when he referred to the royals. The prime minister apparently was unaware of the friendship (he must be the only one in the country) but said he would look into it.
Now I don’t think that we should be having a go at a bloke doing a job because he has some friends that are out of fashion. After all they have been perfectly happy to do business with Libya until recently. An English company even printed their bank notes. And Tunisia wasn’t off limits either until a few weeks ago. Just because one is friendly with a criminal, does not mean one is criminal oneself, and a photograph showing a podgy 50+ man with his arm around a slim 17 year old doesn’t mean that there’s any more to it. He can’t be held responsible for Sarah Ferguson, god knows no one can. Some of the others are a little less excusable. I mean even very rich people don’t pay £3 million above the asking price for a house, without there being some quid pro quo.
But when a bloke has no expertise at a job, and his only attraction is his good name... and then he besmirches that good name, I think it’s time for him to think about retiring gracefully from the post before he causes any more embarrassment.
After all, it’s not like he’ll be another unemployed person to add to the figures. He will continue to receive his £250,000 plus accommodation, plus transport. And we may get a trade ambassador who can behave with a little decorum. Win win situation as I see it.
It has always been dubious whether Andrew was a suitable person for the job, and whether it was right that he inherited the duties from his uncle Prince Edward of Kent. Andrew’s background is naval; he has had no business experience at all and it is thought that the only advantage to the UK is having him in this post, is his title. In short people the world over will turn up to meet a royal and he will always be accompanied on his trips with people who actually know about business.
However there have been more and more calls recently for a review of his role given his somewhat irresponsible behaviour and his choice of friends. He has been criticised for:
using Queen’s flights (at our expense) to travel to golf games etc;
his friendship with Kazak energy tycoon Kenes Rakishev, 29, who was said to have bought Andrew’s house for £3million more than its £12million price tag;
his recent alcohol enhanced, four letter word studded rant about corruption and “*&^%*&^” journa
lists who investigate it, in which he criticized the people who were trying to block the crooked Al Yamama deal, and the French, and the Americans, and just about everyone else who wasn’t British;the fact that he insists that his daughters receive 24 x 7 royal protection, (paid for by us at the cost of over £500,000 a year) even when they wander all over the world living the high life and doing no royal duties (despite being no longer children);
his ex-wife (with whom he lives) selling meetings with him, because she is broke;
his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the photograph, taken in America with his arm around an underage (there) girl, who subsequently made allegations against Epstein;
the use of his name and his friendship with the ruling family of Qatar to form a voting pact with the country, to help deliver the World Cup to England;
his hosting of a lunch at Buckingham Palace for the son in law of the Tunisian dictator just months before he was deposed;
and finally his close friendship with Saif Gaddafi and the convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni.
This last one was raised in the London parliament by Shadow Trade Minister Chris Bryant, who was warned by their presiding officer to be respectful when he referred to the royals. The prime minister apparently was unaware of the friendship (he must be the only one in the country) but said he would look into it.
Now I don’t think that we should be having a go at a bloke doing a job because he has some friends that are out of fashion. After all they have been perfectly happy to do business with Libya until recently. An English company even printed their bank notes. And Tunisia wasn’t off limits either until a few weeks ago. Just because one is friendly with a criminal, does not mean one is criminal oneself, and a photograph showing a podgy 50+ man with his arm around a slim 17 year old doesn’t mean that there’s any more to it. He can’t be held responsible for Sarah Ferguson, god knows no one can. Some of the others are a little less excusable. I mean even very rich people don’t pay £3 million above the asking price for a house, without there being some quid pro quo.
But when a bloke has no expertise at a job, and his only attraction is his good name... and then he besmirches that good name, I think it’s time for him to think about retiring gracefully from the post before he causes any more embarrassment.
After all, it’s not like he’ll be another unemployed person to add to the figures. He will continue to receive his £250,000 plus accommodation, plus transport. And we may get a trade ambassador who can behave with a little decorum. Win win situation as I see it.
Pics (1) His two little princesses, literally! (2) What is it with posh folk and their clothes (especially women’s hats)? (3) Andy and his young friend. (4) And who would live here? A Tesco store?
I’m Amazed at the presiding officer in the Westminster executive telling people to be respectful when talking about air miles Andy and his (family’s) ridiculous blunders. The man is a cretin who is clearly following in the footsteps of his idiot father. Thinking is something they never do, expecting is something they always do!
ReplyDeleteOf course thanks to the Tories from now on we wont be able to know anything about the cost of his expenses or indeed the cost of anything at all that any of them do. A truly unbelievable situation considering they want us to know how every penny of Town Hall cash above £500 is spend because it’s....wait for it....“our money after all”. What’s that money that is being handed over to Brenda and her odious brood then? Or is it a case of FOI for people and institutions the Tories don’t like and no FOI for people the Tories do like and institutions that they are all hoping to line up and bend the knee too and maybe get a bauble or two from the British empire along the way!
tris
ReplyDeleteyou just dont like him do you the thing is what you consider bad behavior is him only being Royal.
The veil of secrecy around items relating to the royal family is ridiculous. It is our money and we are entitled to know how it is spent.
ReplyDeleteI can accept that there may be times when there are conversations at all levels of government that have to be kept secret, just as there are in business and medicine, and I accept that the conversations on state matters between the Queen and the prime minister may on some occasions come into this category, but communication between Charles and ministers?
This has been done so we no longer are allowed to know how much time and money is wasted answering the whims of Charles poking his nose where the constitution says it should not go.
He will not take a telling about this, like he will not take a telling about anything else, and one of these days it is going to cause a constitutional crisis. Hence... no further information to be allowed. His demands for this and that will now be state secrets, and it will be impossible for us to know the hours ministers waste being summoned to Clarence House to discuss his fantasies.
Yep, it’s all our money Eric, but some of it is more our money than other bits.
Niko:
ReplyDeleteWhether I like him or not is not the point. But the title of the blog may give away my feelings about royalty in general
As it goes... regardless of styles and titles of His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh, Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Canadian Forces Decoration, Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty, I don’t like spoiled people who think that their time is far more important than my money.
Tens of thousands of pounds of tax payers money being wasted because Andrew doesn’t like taking the train, and it would take up too much of his time. Never mind that he could do what other people do when they want to play a game of golf in another country... buy an airline ticket themselves.
His children are entitled to protection no matter where they go, and will be for the rest of their lives. Great. On the bases we might expect them to live for another 70 years at half a million a year that accounts for a LOT of our money.
The deal should be if you are a royal and you want all the privileges of that life, you must behave like a royal. These are junior people; they want protecting then they should stay in the UK and open health centres and parks, and involve themselves in charities. If on the other hand they wish to behave like rich spoilt ordinary kids with gap year travel instead of working to earn money for their university education, then they should do what other rich kids do...get their rich dads to pay.
It’s a matter of choice. You want to be royal and get royal treatment, you behave like the Queen, who, even when she was young behaved impeccably. I may be a republican, but I can’t deny the woman that. These people, on the other hand, want it all. It’s not a generational thing either Margaret was exactly the same. Cool arty-farty party goer one minute, but then when something didn’t go her way, suddenly she was the Queen’s sister, and the world had to stop for her...and it did.
They need to decide. If this man wants to do a job for the government for his ¼ million a year pay, good. But he must do it well and on the same basis as other people doing a job. If he wants royal status while he is doing it, then he must behave like a royal. If you are above criticism; you must be above behaviour that deserves criticism.
It isn't Prince Andrew who is behind all of the corrupt little deals, it was the politicians, the expenses piggies.
ReplyDeleteTo pretend it can all be resolved, by placing all guilt on Prince Andrew is to miss the point.
LSE, New Labour, Blair, Straw - these are better targets for Munguins republic rather than a Prince who (as with constitutional monarchy) does as he is told.
No air miles isn’t behind the dirty sordid little deals, he does not have the intelligence. If he did he would not make all the ludicrous blunders that him and the rest of the chinless wonders make. He just facilitates them and is there to glad hand, a puppet and with the half wit in chief in charge now he is a moron’s moron, how pathetic! And all to keep that golden spoon in his gob. If they object to being used in that way they don’t have to do it. But they live for the sychophancy!
ReplyDeleteThat vague man has given him full backing so he must be top notch. UK plc is a corrupt country run by corrupt officials for their benefit with no morals whatsoever. This has gone even further were Unis are being paid by corrupt regimes to teach that countries students.
ReplyDeleteExeter University – doing dodgy business with the world
Lets hope this continues into wedding phase.
Well, you have a point Dean. That last seemed to be happy to trade with anyone, sell them guns and... wait a minute. This government does the same thing. David Cameron took arms salesmen on his tour of the gulf and North African states.
ReplyDeleteHis congratulations to Egypt too may have been a little premature. There are an awful lot of disappearances under the army, and torture is apparently continuing apace. Still America gives them money and they buy arms... so who cares what they do with them.
There are British jobs for British people in arms. So yes, to a point you are right.
However, Dean, evil though the Blair and Brown regimes may have been, they did not tell him to get himself involved with sex offenders, however rich; nor presumably with Kazak billionaires who give him a £3 million tip on his hose, because they know he has Fergie to keep. They didn’t tell him he could use the royal planes when he was popping over to Scotland for a game of golf, nor that his daughters had to run around the world clubbing and costing us millions of pounds, while our poor are going hungry and cold.
Someone probably tweeted Billy Vague and said that Andy was a fine fellow... Vague probably wondered if it was Andy who was in Venezuela ... he appears to think SOMEONE is. ##
ReplyDeleteHe's a right twit ter.
Is it a law in the UK that the females in the royal family are required to wear bizarre headgear?
ReplyDeleteAn expression of how they live their lives at taxpayers expense. Law? possibly a statute one as common ones can't stop laughing.
ReplyDeleteIain Gray is pulling Cammies strings!
ReplyDeleteTally ho.
Its getting awfy warm in here.
ReplyDeleteThe Royal Family should be privatised so that only those who want to pay for them can do so.
ReplyDeleteWe can then spend the money on more deserving things and watch as the royals bankrupt their new paymasters.
Danny: LOL I'm not sure it is completely obligatory... I mean the Queen doesn't send them to the tower if they don't, but there must be merit points in it, because they always manage to look half witted.
ReplyDeleteWhat annoys me is the amount of time these empty headed stupid goons spend finding and choosing clothes like that... and of course they can only ever be worn once, then binned. They are no use in second hand shops or charity shops as they have no practical value... they don’t keep your head warm!!
There are people starving in their own country and these wastes of DNA parade around like overdressed popinjays wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds. They truly make me want to vomit.
At least the Queen, who also wears the most awful clothes and the most bizarre hats, wears them over and over again.
That’s another point that was made about Andrew. He turns up at these events he’s supposed to host with 6 + staff, far more than a cabinet minister would have with him. And they all have to be transported and housed and fed, on expenses, because Andrew cannot do anything for himself... and that probably includes “read”.
Now we find out that the fat idiot was in America with his friend trying to sponge £15,000 from him to pay of Sarah’s bookie. I mean, does Andrew not have £15,000 to give her? He gets £250,000 a year tax free for doing his jobs for the state. It’s bloody good money. As they are so fond of telling us about local government officials who earn a lot: “that’s more than the prime minister”.
And he has sconed us for £4 million in expenses over the 10 years he’s been doing the job... so that’s another £400,000 a year, tax free. Why does he have to go begging American criminals for money? The Windsors are filthy rich.
But now Mr Cameron has every confidence in him, we hear on the news tonight... but that’s not surprising given that Mr Cameron has the judgement of an inebriated jelly bean!
LOL CH. Even Gray could do better than this lot.
ReplyDeleteI love this quote:
'David Cameron, speaking at the Tory party spring conference in Cardiff, repeated his call for "Gaddafi to go". "On Libya, our strategy is clear," he said. '
Gaddafi will be packing his suitcases as we speak, I'm sure, given that daft works has called on him to go. But it's the second part I love. On Libya our strategy is clear.... Oh POLEEEEEZE
Aye that photograph was taken a while ago, when Andy fitted into one evening suit... not two!
ReplyDeleteYeah Billy, good idea, but before you privatize them, there has to be some sort of demand for them. I mean they are popular when they are getting married (which is why, as the hardest year for Britain since the second world war, Cameron told Willie just to get hitched to whatshername), and among certain parts of society, when they are divorcing, but in between times I don't think most people want to actually PAY for them.
ReplyDeleteTris sorry , but can you do an innocent man a favour and get the vid on my blog about rusty onto eyetube for safety, this cannot be lost
ReplyDeletehttp://nominedeus.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/a-present-to-rusty-well-done-m8/
ReplyDeleteSUEDENIMON
ReplyDeleteSorry mate... I don't have an tube account.