Audible exporters
THE exporters themselves have at last declared an armistice. It was overdue. There are no feuds like the feuds between rival promoters of good causes, and the good cause of selling the City of London and its services set off a multi-cornered civil war that made Bosnia look like a Tactical Exercise Without Troops. The Bank of England, the Lord Mayor and Corporation, the Chancellor and his City Promotion Panel — they and half a dozen others fought their corners, and I even took a few pot-shots myself. Happily a diplomat of Douglas Hurd's experience was at hand in the City, where he is a director of National Westminster. He has become chairman of British Invisibles, so called because the exports it promotes are invisible, and will merge it with Ceenet, which has been promoting the City abroad at the Corporation's expense. As chief executive they will have Jeremy Seddon, who has been selling the services of Bar- clays de Zoete Wedd to India, and was regarded as the outstanding candidate on all sides, including mine. Now the two of them will go to work on behalf of the exports that earn a net £20 billion a year and could earn even more if Mr Brown can open up their markets. They will have a strong case and I urge them to make it at home as well as abroad. It would be a mistake to preside over British Inaudibles.
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