Yahoo Finance Cameron Recruits To Aid British Trade Effort
The Cabinet Office's former efficiency chief will be named on Friday among a group of senior business figures enlisted by David Cameron to aid Britain's international trade effort.
Sky News has learnt that Stephen Kelly, who now runs Sage, the listed software group, will be one of six new Business Ambassadors appointed by the Prime Minister.
The appointments will follow recent visits to the UK by China's President and the Indian Prime Minister, during which tens of billions of pounds-worth of business deals were announced, but which prompted questions about the effectiveness of British trade promotion agencies.
Business Ambassadors are expected to conduct meetings at the request of the Government when they travel abroad on business, with the aim of, for example, removing barriers to access for British exporters.
In addition to Mr Kelly, the other new appointments will be Karen Blackett of the media buying group MediaCom; Liv Garfield, chief executive of Severn Trent (Other OTC: STRNY - news) ; Paul Kahn, who runs Airbus Group UK; Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation; and Holly Tucker, one of the entrepreneurs behind Notonthehighstreet.com.
Mr Cameron's recruitment of the new ambassadors will come less than a fortnight after he told the annual conference of the CBI that he was determined to get a better deal from Brussels.
The forthcoming referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union is expected to provide one of the biggest flashpoints for Mr Cameron's relations with business leaders since he became Prime Minister in 2010.
Last week, Sky News revealed that the Prime Minister had met with the European bosses of companies including Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSY - news) and Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) to urge them to speak out during the EU debate.
The existing Business Ambassadors include Archie Norman, the former Conservative MP who chairs ITV; Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC; and Brent Hoberman, the co-founder of Lastminute.com.
