Fresh blow for Cameron as his £720m China venture f lops
DAVID CAMERON has ‘all but abandoned’ his plan for a £720million UK-China investment fund.
The former prime minister had already lost his chance of a multimillion pound payday from his share options in Greensill Capital after it went bust in March.
Subsequent revelations about his lobbying of ministers and officials on behalf of the finance firm have damaged his reputation and left him facing scrutiny in a string of inquiries.
And in a fresh blow to his career, it has emerged that what was seen as his most ambitious commercial project after leaving Downing Street has also fallen flat.
Mr Cameron went into partnership with his friend Tory peer Lord Chadlington in 2017 to establish a £720million investment fund seeking partnership opportunities between Britain and China in areas such as healthcare, energy and technology.
Announced by then chancellor Philip Hammond during a trade visit, the fund sought to build on the ‘golden era’ of co-operation between the countries established by Mr Cameron when he was in No 10.
China’s president Xi Jinping made a state visit to Britain in 2015 and was entertained at Chequers, the country retreat of British prime ministers.
During the trip he and Mr Cameron were photographed at a nearby pub. They ate fish and chips and drank Greene King IPA, prompting sales of the beer to soar in China.
Mr Cameron flew to Beijing in September 2017 to discuss the plans for his fund with senior politicians.
He tweeted at the time: ‘Positive meeting with Vice-Premier Ma Kai where we discussed economic partnership & potential for a future UK-China Fund for businesses.’
He returned a few months later for a meal with his former drinking partner, tweeting: ‘Excellent meeting and enjoyable dinner with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, to talk about
‘Human rights abuses’
the “Golden Era” in UK-China relations and plans for the new UK-China Fund.’
By 2019, ‘substantial’ sums were said to have been committed to the UK-China project after a fundraising drive and backers hoped to start making the first investments. But an ally of the former prime minister told the Financial Times that ‘very little has actually happened over the past two years’ and described the project as moribund.
A spokesman for Mr Cameron, who left No 10 in July 2016, admitted: ‘The UK-China Fund has yet to be established.’
It is thought that major banks were put off investing because of worsening relations between Beijing and London.
Chinese tech giant Huawei has been banned from building Britain’s 5G mobile phone networks and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has offered UK citizenship to millions suffering a crackdown in Hong Kong. The UK has also imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang.