The release of papers related to Andrew Windsor by the Department for Business and Trade has made one thing clear at least. It is the servility towards the so-called royal family of those supposed to look after the interests of the British people.
The release of these papers is a rare case of head of state’s papers being made public so that the people they supposedly represent and who pay their bills can know what they are up to.
The papers reveal that the former hereditary head of state Elizabeth Windsor pressed for the appointment of her son Andrew as special representative for trade when the position was about to become vacant.
David Wright chief executive of British Trade Internation wrote a memo at that time that noted that another Windsor was retiring from the position and that Ms Windsor wanted her son to take his place, so that one Windsor would follow another without competition. It seemed to him a “natural fit”.
Nobody seems to have questioned rightness of letting Windsor have her way.
Chris Bryant, the minister for trade, told MPs that he had found no evidence that due diligence or any vetting had been undertaken before Mr Windsor was given the job. But he thought that “understandable” as it was a continuation of the Windsor family’s trade promotion work.
This willingness to do whatever the Windsors wanted can also be seen in the decision made at the time to put no limit on the business activities that Windsor carried out at the same time as his official duties as trade representative.
As usual the government paired deference towards the Windsors with contempt for the rights of the people who pay their bills.
Even now they have failed to understand that it was this type of servility that allowed Andrew Windsor to bring the country into disrepute.
Bryant said that it was “exceptional circumstances” that had allowed him to reveal the actions of the head of state. And he had made sure that anything not related to the trade representative job had been safely kept secret.
With monarchy there is no place for fairness or accountability. And certainly not for democratic self respect.