Foreign Secretary backs privately funded royal yacht to boost post-Brexit trade deals
JEREMY HUNT has become the latest Cabinet minister to back a campaign for a new privately funded royal yacht Bri
tannia to help Britain win trade deals after Brexit.
The Foreign Secretary has made it clear that, while he would not want to see public funds used to built the yacht, he supports a new royal vessel paid for by private subscription.
Scores of MPs, including Cabinet ministers such as Liam Fox and Michael Gove, have already backed a Telegraph campaign for a new royal yacht which could act as a catalyst for inward investment deals after Britain leaves the European Union in March.
The previous royal yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997, often hosted “trade days” when captains of industry were encouraged to invest in the UK, and is estimated to have helped secure £3 billion-worth of trade deals between 1991 and 1995.
A source close to Mr Hunt, who is one of the front-runners to replace Theresa May as Tory leader, said that “if private donors came along” he would “welcome” a new yacht. But a spokesman for Mr Hunt confirmed: “We have no plans to support a new royal yacht ourselves.” In an interview today with The
Sunday Telegraph, Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, avoided committing public money for a new royal yacht, saying he has “a flagship for the Royal Navy – she is called HMS Queen Elizabeth”.
A replacement for Britannia – which is now a visitor attraction berthed in Edinburgh – was proposed by John Major’s government before the 1997 election, but was dropped by Tony Blair’s government in October of the same year.
Craig Mackinlay, the Tory MP, welcomed Mr Hunt’s support for a new yacht. He said: “We need to consider how Britain projects herself on the world stage, with a WTO [World Trade Organisation] Brexit particularly allowing the UK to negotiate new interna- tional trade deals in the shortest time.”
Commodore Anthony Morrow, the last captain of the previous Britannia, said: “I have no doubt that such a ship in service for the UK would be a huge benefit to our maritime nation heading towards an exciting future.”
Ian Maiden, a millionaire businessman who wants to see a new yacht to connect the UK to Commonwealth countries after Brexit, added: “A highprofile statement of confidence to support our trading intentions could be the commissioning of a state-of-the-art ship as a promotional platform, similar in size and status to HMY Britannia of times past.”
The news comes after it emerged that the Queen had secretly lobbied the Major government for a replacement yacht in the mid-Nineties. In a letter dated May 1995, Sir Kenneth Scott, the Queen’s deputy private secretary, made it clear the Queen backed a new royal yacht.
Last month the Duke of York, the Queen’s second son, said a new royal yacht could be a “tool in the bag” to help Britain’s businesses develop trade relationships around the world.
‘I have no doubt that such a ship … would be a huge benefit to our maritime nation heading towards an exciting future’