Andy brazens it out: Prince appears in public as David Cameron pledges full support in row over paedophile pal

By Fay Schlesinger and James Chapman


-Prince smiled today as he attended business headquarters in London
-Duchess of York claims deal to pay former personal assistant was brokered by ex-husband
-'Stand behind him,' pleads secret e-mail from Prince's press secretary to trade body
-Business Secretary Vince Cable says 'it's up to him' whether he continues as envoy
-Lib-Dem Lord Oakeshott: ‘If the duke was working for a private-sector business, the board would be asking whether he is a salesman now carrying too much baggage'

Brave face: Under-fire Prince Andrew arrives at Canary Wharf today as he received the backing of David Cameron for his role as a trade envoy


Prince Andrew today received the full backing of David Cameron after Downing Street said he was doing an 'important job' as a UK trade envoy.

The Prime Minister's spokesman issued the backing following a series of allegations against the Duke of York centred on his relationship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Asked whether David Cameron had full confidence in Prince Andrew as a trade envoy, the Prime Minister's official spokesman replied: 'Yes.'

He added 'The Prime Minister thinks he is doing an important job and is making a major contribution and he is supportive of him in that role.

'We are not reviewing that role in any way. The Government's position is very clear: that we support him in his role as trade envoy.

'He has made a very important contribution to UK trade through the role and continues to do so. We think he makes a valuable contribution and so does British business.'

The support of the Prime Minister came as Prince Andrew appeared in the public eye for the first time since allegations surrounding his friendship with Epstein emerged last week.

It also came after Business Secretary Vince Cable said it was 'up to' Prince Andrew whether he should continue in the role.

Mr Cable told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'He is a volunteer, he has offered to perform these roles, and I think it is down to him essentially to judge the position he wants to be in.

'Obviously there are conversations that will take place with him about what he is to do in future. That is simply a matter of managing the relationship.'

This morning Prince Andrew appeared to put all thoughts of the scandal out of his mind as he visited the Crossrail headquarters in Canary Wharf, London.

His appearance came after the Mail revealed that the Duchess of York accepted £15,000 from Prince Andrew’s convicted child sex offender friend to help pay off her debts.

In a deal that Sarah Ferguson has claimed was brokered by her ex-husband, disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein paid the money directly to her former personal assistant, Johnny O’Sullivan.

Mr O’Sullivan, 42, was owed £78,000 in unpaid wages and bills thanks to the lavish lifestyle which left the duchess £5million in debt.

Trade role: The Duke of York 'does an important job' on behalf of the nation, David Cameron said


Last night, she accepted that she was wrong to rely financially on the disgraced Epstein and vowed to return the cash.

But her sensational admission is yet another blow to the beleaguered Duke of York, already fighting to save his job as UK trade envoy. It came as:

■ Ministers privately indicated they would not ‘shed any tears’ if he fell on his sword;

■ The woman at the centre of the claims, Virginia Roberts, said she was prepared to testify to the FBI about her relationship and time ‘alone’ with the duke;

■ It was revealed that two more women were asked under oath if they had ever had sex with Andrew at Epstein’s mansion. Both declined to answer.

Sarah Ferguson, left, claims disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein paid her former personal assistant £15,000. She says the deal was brokered by Prince Andrew


The extent of the duke and duchess’s personal and financial immersion in the affairs of a convicted child abuser will cast further doubts on their judgment, and on Andrew’s suitability to continue in his role of the Government’s business envoy with UK Trade and Investment.

It has emerged that Andrew met a 17-year-old girl who was at the time being sexually abused by Epstein, and allegedly enjoyed massages at the Florida mansion where abuse went on. There is no suggestion of the duke having sexual contact with the girls involved.

The duke was pictured with Epstein in December, after his 2008 conviction and jail term for soliciting prostitution from under-age girls.

On Saturday, the Daily Mail revealed that he has admitted the friendship was an error and severed ties with Epstein.

Sarah, meanwhile, had already been exposed for trying to sell access to Andrew, with whom she still lives, for £500,000 in a newspaper sting last May.

Last year City accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, who were brought in at Andrew’s expense to review the duchess’s finances, offered her creditors just 25p for every pound they were owed.

The settlement was conditional on all the creditors agreeing to it.

However two long-standing personal assistants and former friends were understood to have refused: Kate Waddington, who was owed £75,000, and Mr O’Sullivan, who was owed £78,000.

So the duchess arranged for ‘a number of friends’ to supply the remaining 75 per cent to the two, a source said.

These friends included Epstein, who initially offered more than £55,000 but in the end paid just £15,000 to Mr O’Sullivan after the two men allegedly fell out.

Andrew had already cleared an estimated £1.5million of Sarah’s ‘personal’ debts, and the duchess has allegedly boasted that Epstein, 58, did the deal ‘on behalf of’ the duke.

A close friend of Andrew yesterday insisted Epstein had ‘nothing to do with his financial affairs . . . these issues are to do with the Duchess of York’s finances only’. But the friend did not deny that the fourth in line to the throne knew of the agreement.

The pact was described as ‘strange’ by one financial expert last night, while Mr O’Sullivan, who now lives in America after working with the duchess for 14 years, is said to have called it ‘murky’.

A spokesman for the duchess said yesterday: ‘She is now debt-free after coming to different arrangements with different creditors.’

A source close to her added: ‘She felt it right that members of her staff should be paid in full. Epstein and O’Sullivan knew each other and decided between themselves.

‘But the duchess recognises that it was unwise to accept this help and will return the money to Mr O’Sullivan as soon as possible.

‘He can then return it to Epstein. The duchess is not on speaking terms with Epstein and is not expected to see him again.’

The duchess knows Epstein well. She has been to his Florida home and has met him on several occasions via her ex-husband.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Finance experts said last night that when the duchess’s other creditors learn that their own deals were less favourable than Mr O’Sullivan’s and Miss Waddington’s, they could complain that their arrangements are invalid and push for more money.

Dr Paul Moorhead, of insolvency consultants Moorhead Savage, said: ‘In the case of one awkward creditor resisting a deal, it can be appealing to make it go away thanks to a third party. But it does seem rather strange.'

Pressure grows on Andrew to quit as Britain's trade ambassador

By JAMES CHAPMAN, Political Editor

The Duke of York is under growing pressure to resign as Britain’s trade ambassador or face a humiliating reduction of his globe-trotting role.

As the Jeffrey Epstein scandal intensifies, unease is deepening in the Cabinet with ministers privately suggesting they would ‘shed no tears’ if the prince fell on his sword.

Yesterday came the first indications that his role as special representative for UK Trade and Investment could be downgraded if he refuses to budge.

In addition, officials have been instructed to praise the prince for his ‘valuable contribution’ but go no further to defend him.

Virginia Roberts with Prince Andrew during a visit she made to London with Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, the teenager was the tycoon's masseuse


Andrew is said to be determined to save his job and to have the full support of the Queen. Ministers insist there is no prospect of him being dismissed.

But there is increasing concern over the damage being done to Britain’s reputation by the allegations swirling around him.

His unpaid position has come under intense scrutiny over his 16-year friendship with billionaire Epstein, who was jailed for soliciting an under-age girl for prostitution.

The prince allowed himself to be pictured with his arm around Virginia Roberts, the tycoon’s then teenage masseuse.

One Cabinet minister said: ‘The Royals go on and on, that’s what they do. They are not sackable. But in his job there is a process for a review every six months. It is a tasking review and what he does can be increased or it can, of course, be reduced.’

Another senior Government source said the ball was in Andrew’s court.
‘If you are asking me would tears be shed if he decided himself that he should step down, the answer is No.’

One senior Tory source said: ‘There appears to be no discernible mental activity upstairs as far as the duke is concerned. I feel sorry for him. He has no friends and so is surrounded by these vile people.’

Lord Oakeshott, a senior Liberal Democrat peer and the party’s former Treasury spokesman, said: ‘In any business, you have to review from time to time whether staff are still providing value for money.

‘If the Duke of York was working for a private-sector business, the board would be asking whether he is a salesman now carrying too much baggage.’

Labour MP Adrian Bailey, chairman of the Commons Business Select Committee, raised the possibility of an investigation into Andrew’s role.

‘I do feel that he can add value to the British export drive, but obviously there are now issues that have to be considered,’ he said. ‘We may well want to have a look at them in light of some of the controversy that has arisen.’


Yesterday it emerged that then Prime Minister Gordon Brown overruled a Foreign Office attempt to remove Prince Andrew from UKTI because he did not want to upset the Queen.

Shadow justice minister Chris Bryant, then a Foreign Office minister, said he raised questions about the prince’s suitability for the role because of his ‘profligacy’ and his relationships with controversial figures in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Mr Bryant said: ‘It really is time we put Prince Andrew into retirement. His trips as the special representative for UKTI were legendary – but not for the right reasons. The duke’s profligacy has always begged the question, whose interests are being served here: the country he is representing or his own?

‘The fact that one of his visits to Bahrain coincided with the Grand Prix, and that on at least one occasion he expressly asked embassy staff to make time for him to try selling his splendid home at Sunninghill Park to rich local dignitaries, did little to convince anyone the answer is the former.’

Foreign Secretary William Hague, whose department funds the work of UKTI, along with the Business Department, said he had full confidence in the prince, though he admitted he had not read the latest round of revelations in weekend newspapers.

‘I’ve seen a lot of benefits that he has brought in countries that I have visited, where he’s been performing that role,’ said Mr Hague.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said he had met the prince several times in the nine months since he took up his job in government. He told the BBC: ‘He makes a valuable contribution to our work overseas, and obviously we respect that very much.’

Business Secretary Vince Cable, whose department is responsible for UKTI, also said Andrew had made a ‘valuable contribution’.

Asked if the prince should continue in the role, however, Mr Cable’s spokesman said: ‘No comment.’

Pressed further, the spokesman said: ‘The prince’s role is not a ministerial appointment so it is not appropriate for Mr Cable to say if he should continue in it. It is a matter for Prince Andrew.’

Senior UKTI executive Richard Paniguian, said of the prince: ‘He is promoting British business interests abroad and helps to attract valuable inward investment to the UK.’




Source:dailymail