Former Labour Get together star Chuka Umunna is advising an power tycoon often known as the ‘Czech Sphinx’ who has been {accused} of plotting to take over the Royal Mail.
The previous management hopeful, 44, has been employed by funding agency Vesa Fairness which is run by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
Mr Umunna is working with the corporate in his position as a managing director and division head at JP Morgan, The Every day Telegraph reported.
It comes weeks after Mr Kretinsky – whose ‘Czech Sphinx’ nickname comes from his inscrutable method to investing –upped his stake within the Royal Mail’s mum or dad firm to 23 per cent. The transfer prompted hypothesis he’s planning a full-blown takeover of the beleaguered enterprise – which has been crippled by a wave of strikes.
Former Labour Get together star Chuka Umunna has been employed by funding agency Vesa Fairness
Daniel Kretinsky upped his stake within the Royal Mail’s mum or dad firm to 23 per cent. The transfer prompted hypothesis he’s planning a full-blown takeover of the beleaguered enterprise
The Communication Employees Union boss Dave Ward has {accused} bosses of holding ‘secret talks’ with Vesa a couple of sale, which the Royal Mail denied.
Mr Umunna was branded a ‘hypocrite’ for advising Mr Kretinsky after claiming in 2013 that privatising the Royal Mail would ‘destroy the UK’s common postal service’.
On the time Mr Umunna, then Labour’s enterprise spokesman, stated: ‘There’s no method personal firms can keep six-day-a-week deliveries to each single handle within the UK. Sustaining the Royal Mail in public possession provides the taxpayer an ongoing direct curiosity in common postal providers on this nation… and it ensures the taxpayer will get the share within the upside of modernisation and the elevated income which Royal Mail delivers.’
Conservative MP Lee Anderson stated: ‘This newest bout of hypocrisy as soon as once more exposes the contempt these so-called Socialists have for the Nice British public. They are saying one factor however do one other.’
Mr Umunna was a long-serving Labour frontbencher however a sequence of defections noticed him find yourself as a Liberal Democrat and lose his seat in 2019. He took the profitable JP Morgan job overseeing the financial institution’s environmental, social and governance providers in Europe, final yr.
Mr Kretinsky confronted an investigation underneath the Nationwide Safety and Funding Act after shifting to extend his stake within the Royal Mail’s mum or dad firm, Worldwide Distribution Providers, above 25 per cent. However final month he was given the go-ahead to snap up extra of the enterprise, and even launch a takeover of the ailing firm.
The beleaguered Royal Mail is locked in a bitter dispute with unions and shedding £1million a day.
Mr Kretinsky’s expanded stake – price round £469million – tightens his grip on the corporate as its largest shareholder. The 47-year-old is estimated to have a web price of round £4.3billion.
a.mitchell@dailymail.co.uk
