v3 Chapter 668： Capital and politics

"It turned out to be Jeffrey Howie!"

Sitting in the crowd, Xia Yu saw the first 50-year-old man who was on the stage, and his eyes flashed with surprise.

Jeffrey Howy belongs to the Conservative Party and is Margaret Thatcher's right-hand man. He is now the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and is in charge of economic and financial affairs in the British cabinet.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is also known as the Minister of Finance. He is one of the four major ministers of state in the United Kingdom, and because he holds a purse, he has the status of the head of the four major ministers of state.

According to the memory of later generations, Jeffrey Howe was the longest-term member of Margaret’s cabinet. He will serve as Foreign Minister, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Deputy Prime Minister in the future. After he announced his resignation from all positions in 1990, Margaret also stepped down after three weeks.

It is such an important person who has everything to do with every day, and he even ran over to participate in this financial industry gathering.

Before coming, he didn't know that Jeffrey Howy would show up.

Xia Yu's brain is running at high speed, thinking about the true purpose of Jeffrey Howie's presence here.

Just when he had a certain guess, Jeffrey Howie on the stage smiled slightly and started his own speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon everyone, it is an honor to be on this special occasion..."

"I am here to announce some statistics to everyone. Under the wise leadership of Prime Minister Margaret, the unemployment rate in the UK has dropped by 1.15% in less than two months, and the downward trend in the economy of the whole society has slowed, especially In the financial industry closely related to all of you, capital investment is more active than before the change of term. In the past two months, a total of 520 million pounds of foreign capital has been invested in the UK..."

"The Cabinet is now formulating a series of policies to stimulate economic and market development, but it still faces possible constraints on capital."

"The British economy is about to recover. This is a historical opportunity. Gentlemen can choose to follow the trend of history and let their companies grow rapidly. You can also sit on the sidelines. Everyone has the right to choose the road. But I sincerely hope that everyone can enjoy it. A delicious feast of wealth, not only to your own benefit, but also to the people of the whole country..."

"Let me see, it took up five minutes of your time, thank you for listening!"

Jeffrey Howie looked at his watch, said with a smile, and after speaking, bowed slightly to the audience, and then walked off the stage. .

On this platform where the financial industry gathers, even though he is the finance minister, he is still not the protagonist. With this opportunity, he has said everything that should be said, and the hint is obvious enough. If he still can’t understand it, he can only say that the level is not enough and the strength is not enough. This kind of person is not a target the cabinet desperately needs.

In fact, people don't know, but Xia Yu can understand the meaning.

"Feast of Wealth..."

He chewed the word in his mouth, smiled at the corner of his mouth, looked around, and found many people with solemn faces and golden eyes. Obviously, the news was smoother than Xia Yu.

"Calculating the time, it will start in more than a month."

Xia Yu recalled it for a moment, and calculated it in his mind to get an approximate time point.

Although no one has notified him now, Xia Yu knows very well that by October, Margaret’s cabinet had completed the preliminary preparations, paved the way, and officially began privatization reforms. The first one was BP. And it will release 19% of the equity in a lump sum.

In fact, in the United Kingdom, the proportion of state-owned components in sectors such as steel, aviation, automobiles, and oil extraction have reached 75%, 75%, 50%, and 25% respectively, and the oil extraction industry is the lowest.

If it is for the good of the people, it is reasonable to start with a high proportion. After all, in the United Kingdom, the higher the degree of nationalization, the worse the operation of state-owned enterprises in the industry, the more serious the loss, the greater the retaliation against government finances.

But that's just thinking about it. You must know that this is a capitalist country, and the degree of capital's influence on the government cannot be explained clearly in a word.

It is precisely because the proportion of state-owned enterprises in the oil extraction industry is low that they will face greater competitive pressures. Under these circumstances, they can survive. It is conceivable how threatening private enterprises in the oil industry are.

Xia Yu knows that the Margaret government's attack on the oil industry is precisely because of the subsequent capital oppression, or profit feedback, to give back to the oil interest groups that support the Conservative Party.

The previous government was the Labor Party in power. At the time of the general election, the opposition Labor Party's campaign platform clearly advocated: Strengthening the government's control over North Sea oil resources and oil production and transportation.

This slogan was very popular and enabled the Labor Party to win the election.

After the Labor Party came to power, just as the first batch of oil fields in the North Sea waters began to be produced, the Labor Party government issued the Petroleum Tax Act and the Petroleum and Underwater Management Act through the Parliament, which stipulated that the United Kingdom should be affected by the increase in international oil prices at that time. The crude oil produced in the North Sea is subject to an "oil revenue tax."

These two bills greatly expanded the rights of the energy sector, and then the Labor Party government established the British National Petroleum Corporation, through which it strengthened the government's control and supervision of the oil industry.

Moreover, the Labor Party government shamelessly opened a policy link to BP and granted it some special rights and functions.

The first is to ensure the supply of oil in the UK. BP has the right to buy and sell 51% of the crude oil produced by the oil fields in the North Sea in the British waters at market prices. This right represents the Labor Party government’s representative to the operating agencies of the oil fields.

The second is that in the fifth round of tenders in 1977 and the sixth round of tenders in early 1979, the government required that foreign companies that won the bids should allow BP to acquire 51% of the equity.

Third, the Labour Party government has also awarded BP eleven sea areas as the operator of the block.

Finally, it is stipulated that BP has the preemptive right to purchase shares in various mining areas in the North Sea area of ​​the United Kingdom, and because the company transfers its profits to the government, it does not have to pay oil income tax.

Under this situation, less than five years after its establishment, BP has become one of the largest oil companies in the North Sea. In 1978, the oil fields it purchased also began to produce oil. The company poses a huge threat.

And in 1978, BP purchased and sold crude oil from North Sea companies worth 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, sold its own stock oil and self-produced oil for 400 million U.S. dollars, making profits for the first time.

Under the situation of widespread losses in state-owned enterprises, BP has made unprecedented profits, and with so many privileges, private oil companies will be consumed, so it has naturally become a thorn in the eyes of all private oil companies.

At the beginning of the year, the opposition Conservative Party seized the opportunity and put forward the slogan against the government's intervention in the oil industry. Naturally, the oil interest groups made peace with the Conservative Party and strongly supported the Conservative Party to come to power.

What the Conservative Party has to pay is to abolish BP’s privileges and functions, restore all companies to the same starting line, and withdraw the government from the oil industry.

It's just that the privatization of BP does not mean that it will sell its shares to the original oil interest group, but that everyone is eligible to compete.

Therefore, the Conservative Party government regards it as a huge bargaining chip to exchange interests with all parties.

Just now, the treasurer Jeffrey Howy said it was very explicit.

Although he did not say that he was working in the oil field, as long as people at the top level and mobilizing contacts can still know some policy news of the cabinet.

Jeffrey Howy’s meaning is obvious. If you want to be eligible for competition, you must put enough chips on the ship of the Conservative government to provide funds for the government’s economic reforms, reactivate the quiet market potential, and let society’s Money flows!

Only when money flows, will it produce a series of economic benefits, and the government will be able to collect more taxes, and then use taxes to invest in various fields to improve people's livelihood and develop the economy, thus forming a virtuous circle.

Of course, these things are not something Xia Yu wants to consider He is already thinking about the equity of BP at this time.

Others don't know, but he knows that the Conservative Party government will give out 19% of the equity this time.

The conditions have been laid out, and there is still room for manipulation.

He does not need to take 5% of the equity, after all, this is simply unrealistic.

He just needs a ticket, a ticket to venture into the British oil field!

The equity does not need to be much, he is satisfied if he can get 1%.

Now he does not have the strength to compete with the big consortiums in the UK and the Rockefeller consortiums in the United States.

But as long as he gets a small amount of equity, he can drill a little bit bigger through this gap. When he is strong, he will not appear abrupt in entering the oil field and will not be targeted by the joint.

Xia Yu looked at the Duke Carter Howard who was sitting on the VIP table, narrowed his eyes, thinking in his heart.

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