May nets ex-Cable adviser Wilkes to lead industrial strategy push
A former aide to Sir Vince Cable is to lead Theresa May's efforts to forge a new industrial strategy for the UK, Sky News learns.
Thursday 22 December 2016 10:34, UK
Theresa May has lured a former adviser to Sir Vince Cable to help lead Government efforts to hammer out Britain's future industrial strategy.
Sky News has learnt that Giles Wilkes, who spent four years working with Sir Vince while he was Business Secretary, is to become a special adviser based at 10 Downing Street in the new year.
His move - from the Financial Times, where he has been working on the newspaper's Lex commentary section - will be seen as underlining the Prime Minister's determination to distance Whitehall policymaking from the era of her predecessor David Cameron.
Sajid Javid, who replaced Sir Vince as Business Secretary after last year's general election, made a concerted attempt to downgrade the concept of a British industrial strategy.
But under Mrs May, the idea has become central to the Conservatives' economic blueprint, leading to the renaming of the Whitehall department responsible for business to include the phrase 'industrial strategy'.
Other than Nick Clegg, Sir Vince was the Liberal Democrats' most senior Cabinet representative during the 2010-15 coalition government, and was evangelical about corporate reform and the need for an industrial strategy.
Under Sir Vince, Mr Wilkes was instrumental in drawing up the corporate governance reforms which saw shareholders in public companies given binding votes every three years on their remuneration policies.
Sources said that Mr Wilkes' role would be focused on industrial strategy as ministers attempt to steer a path through the country's impending exit from the European Union.
A green paper on industrial strategy is expected to be published next month, just weeks after a separate paper on corporate governance and executive pay reform sparked criticism that Mrs May had weakened her pledge to tackle boardroom excess.
The robustness of ministers' commitment to a coherent industrial policy has been intensely scrutinised in recent months, particularly in the wake of a letter from Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, to Nissan which prompted the Japanese carmaker to reaffirm its commitment to manufacturing in the UK.
Mr Clark said in a speech at the Tory conference in September that the Government's aim was to "create long-term confidence in Britain as a place to do business".
"For too long government policy has treated every place as if they were identical," he said.
"Many of the policies and decisions that form our industrial strategy will not be about particular industries or sectors, but will be cross-cutting."
This week, the CBI, Britain's largest employers' group, urged the Government to take a "whole economy" approach to Brexit.
The news of Mr Wilkes' appointment comes the day after a fresh row erupted over the pay packages enjoyed by Government special advisers.
Mr Wilkes could not be reached for comment on Thursday.