Draft Statement on London Office

By Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin

Meeting of the Legislative Assembly in Cayman Brac

Madam Speaker,

Many will know that as of 31 March the contract between the Cayman Islands and the Director of the Cayman Islands Office in London headed by Lord Blencathra came to an end.
Government began advertising for that position on Monday.
The decision to end the contract was by mutual consent after a meeting I had with Lord Blencathra in London last month.

While Lord Blencathra’s company, Two Lions Consultancy Ltd., has had a contract with the Cayman Islands since 2011, recent amendments to the Code of Conduct for the House of Lords could be construed to be in conflict with his role as director of the Cayman Islands London Office.

I want to make it clear, Madam Speaker, Lord Blencathra maintains that his efforts on behalf of the Cayman Islands Government over the course of his employment with the London Office in no way breached the code of conduct in effect at the time and that a previous investigation by the Lords Commissioner for Standards Paul Kernaghan concluded that there was, indeed, no breach.

In addition to his role as the Director of the London Office, Lord Blencathra also acted as a consultant to the Cayman Islands Government through his company, providing advice and guidance on a vast range of UK and EU matters.

Madam Speaker, it is critical that Government continues to have the benefit of proper advice on these matters in order to protect and promote the interests of the Cayman Islands.

To that end, we are considering our options.

The advice and guidance Lord Blencathra has given to Government over the years has been invaluable. We appreciate not only his service to the Cayman Islands, but also his gracious acknowledgement that we could not continue our relationship under his contract.

As I said before Madam Speaker, the directorship role is being advertised. The members of this House and indeed the country can be assured that Government will diligently strive to hire the best person for the job and ensure that we receive the optimal level of service from the London Office, which serves an ever increasingly critical role in terms of supporting our relationship with the United Kingdom, other Overseas Territories and key international organizations.