FCO had nopower to stop lord’s appointment

(CNS): The former overseas territories minister has told a local newspaper in his constituency in England that the FCO never had the power to either authorise or block the appointment of Lord Blencathra as the Cayman Islands representative in the UK. In the wake of news that the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards has cleared the Tory peer, who was appointed as Cayman’s London office chief by McKeeva Bush, Henry Bellingham, MP said the FCO had only ‘approved’ the appointment in the sense that it was willing to work with Lord Blencathra in that role.

The appointment had stirred up conflict between the Cayman premier and the FCO as McKeeva Bush had appointed Blencathra as the UK Cayman office boss before the FCO had checked whether the post could bring Blencathra into conflict of interest. Bush had also accused the Cayman governor, Duncan Taylor, of trying to stop the appointment when FCO officials took advice regarding the decision.

Speaking to Lynn News a Norfolk-based paper in the East of England, Bellingham said, “It was their decision, nothing to do with us. We took advice as to whether we had any say in the decision and the advice was no, we didn’t. When we ‘approved’ it, it wasn’t a technical approval. It doesn’t mean to say we had a say over the appointment. We approved it in the sense that we wanted to have a productive relationship with Lord Blencathra. We were basically neutral on it in a sense.”

Documents released under the UK’s FOI law to the Bureau of Investigative Journalists showed that Bellingham had written to Bush in December last year giving “provisional approval” for Blencathra’s appointment as the London office director.

The appointment of Blencathra has proved controversial as the role is normally held by a Caymanian. The premier made a decision to appoint the Conservative member of the House of Lords in an attempt to have greater understanding and influence in London for Cayman and in the European Union.

The appointment has also stirred up concerns in the UK because parliamentary rules bar members from accepting payments for parliamentary services. Labour MP Paul Flyn and Liberal Democrat President Tim Farron both queried whether the role would place the Tory peer in conflict.

However, Paul Kernaghan, the House of Lords commissioner for standards, cleared the peer recently and in a letter released by the Cayman government last weekend he said he was satisfied that the member of the House of Lords had not breached its code of conduct.

Related article: UK commissioner clears Lord

See UK article here.