Baroness Shameless renames building in tribute to the Queen ... then shuts it down!
EMBATTLED Commonwealth chief Baroness Scotland faced a new row last night after shutting down a centre dedicated to the Queen as a 90th birthday present.
The monarch was guest of honour at the opening of the ‘Commonwealth Hub’ in Pall Mall, central London, in June 2016, weeks after she turned 90.
Baroness Scotland said the Queen was the ‘inspiration’ for the centre and said it was to be a home for key Commonwealth organisations and it signalled a ‘new future’ for the organisation.
But less than four years later, it has closed and been put up for rent because of a cash crisis at the Commonwealth Secretariat – in what insiders say is the latest example of Baroness Scotland’s shambolic leadership.
The disclosure came as the former Labour Cabinet minister’s bid to win a further fouryear term as £160,000-a-year Secretary General suffered another blow.
Britain is the current rotating chairman of the Commonwealth, giving Prime Minister Boris Johnson a major say over whether she stays on when on April her 1. current Foreign term Office ends officials say Downing Street has sounded out Commonwealth leaders as to whether they want her to remain – and the response was negative.
Instead, she is due to be given a stay of execution of just two months until the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda in June. A final decision on whether to sack her will be made there.
Baroness Scotland, 64, has been branded ‘Baroness Brazen’ and ‘Baroness Shameless’ over her lavish spending – although she denies all wrongdoing.
Mr Johnson wants her out, but is keen to avoid a public row – or allegations that Britain is bossing the Commonwealth around. The New Zealand government took the unprecedented step of announcing it was pulling the plug on funding for the secretariat as a direct result of an auditors’ report lambasting Baroness Scotland over a £250,000 commission to a firm run by her Labour friend Lord Patel of Bradford. Canada has rejected her pleas to reinstate its funding for the secretariat’s ‘technical co- operation’ fund, which it axed in 2013. Sources say this is linked to Canada’s lack of faith in the way the secretariat is run. Baroness Scotland, born in the Dominican Republic, retains the support of Caribbean countries. However, the Daily Mail has been told that several senior African diplomats are backing moves to oust her.
A senior UK Conservative said: ‘Her reputation is undermining the Commonwealth.’
The hub was to be the new home of the Commonwealth Games Federation, the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum – and an education centre would follow, Baroness Scotland said.
After the Queen unveiled a special plaque, Baroness Scotland said: ‘This is a hugely wonderful and exciting beginning.’ But the hub was closed on December 31 and the Commonwealth groups evicted.
A spokesman for Baroness Scotland said the closure showed ‘prudent’ management, adding that staff had been relocated.