Prince Andrew steps down as Britain's trade envoy following row over friendship with U.S. sex offender and billionaire Jeffry Epstein, bad judgement

Dear All

One of the things that the Royals do as a job is press the flesh in various countries promoting British goods and services.

The Duke of York is UK's roving business ambassador.

And as such he gets about the place.

Unfortunately for him, he is to step down from his role as the UK's roving business ambassador because of his links with American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and others.

Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

And people like Prince Andrew can’t have paedophiles as friends.

However as bad luck would have it, Prince Andrew has faced intense scrutiny over his relationships with a series of controversial figures, including the convicted paedophile, Epstein.

If he was hanging about with the same type of people at a local level in Britain, they would be classed as gangsters and thugs.

But these people that Prince Andrew meets are rich gangsters and thugs.

Prince Andrew has been dogged by accusations of a lack of judgment.

But this should extend to the people he employs to steer him right and didn’t.

Further doubts were raised about Andrew's position in the wake of media coverage about him entertaining the son-in-law of ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at Buckingham Palace.

With people dying as the Arab Spring engulfs the Middle East, perhaps it wasn’t the best time.

You could say that Prince Andrew is really unlucky he also held a meeting with Libya's embattled leader Colonel Gaddafi while on a private visit to Tunisia in 2008.

And in 2011, Gaddafi is an outcast.

As expected and despite the mounting criticism, he received the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne.

Not a surprise as this is automatic.

Andrew has been the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment since 2001, travelling around the world and at home promoting Britain's business interests.

Prince Andrew need to find a job and this one is as good as any other because it is all about trading on his name as a senior member of the Royal family.

Another aspect of his demise from the position is the long-running complaints about the lavish nature of his official foreign trips.

Prince Andrew stays in absolute luxury when abroad.

What is telling is a leaked letter written by retired diplomat Stephen Day, a former ambassador to Qatar and Tunisia, to Foreign Secretary William Hague that stated an 'entirely new role should be found for him as soon as possible'.

Back at home, the calls for him to resign or be removed from his role were made in March by Labour MP Chris Bryant, a former Foreign Office minister, and senior Labour backbencher Mike Gapes.

Although politicians try and paint the lie that we live in a meritocracy it isn’t the case, above a certain level people like Prince Andrew get opportunities that ordinary people can’t get.

They wouldn’t even get their application read; they don’t move in the right circles or have the right social connections.

When retired diplomat Stephen Day said that:

'entirely new role should be found for him as soon as possible'.

All he did was flag up how utter corrupt Britain is.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University