Latest / Best of Business / Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor closing down his final business interests

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Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor closing down his final business interests · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
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  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Devin Gray, UK correspondence with US, Hello, Gevin II. So,
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump has said he has an obligation to sue
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  Speaker 2: the bebe Yes.
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  Speaker 3: First time he's spoken since the whole row erupted about
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  Speaker 3: his thoughts and the BBC documentary in which a speech
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  Speaker 3: was edited together in such a way as to make
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  Speaker 3: it look like he was trying to incite his supporters
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  Speaker 3: into violence at the Capitol. Hell rites back in January
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty one, two bits of the speech, almost an
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  Speaker 3: hour apart, edited together. He's now spoken on Fox News
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  Speaker 3: and said that it had presented defrauded views of what
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  Speaker 3: he said. His speech had been butchered, he said, and
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  Speaker 3: effectively said he now has this obligation to sue, and
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  Speaker 3: that deadline for the suing of one billion pounds two
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  Speaker 3: to three billion New Zealand dollars. It comes with a deadline,
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  Speaker 3: and it's ten o'clock Friday evening hour time, so it'll
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  Speaker 3: be Saturday mid morning your time for the corporation to respond.
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  Speaker 3: And if the BBC doesn't respond, he says he will
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  Speaker 3: start that litigation. Lots of people though, looking at that
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  Speaker 3: threat of litigation and said, well, hang on. One of
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  Speaker 3: the main plints in a court of lawries was it
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  Speaker 3: readily available to view in America? And the answer to
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  Speaker 3: that would appear to be no. But of course that'll
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  Speaker 3: all be decided potentially in a court of law. And also,
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  Speaker 3: you know, has it actually added any additional damage to
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  Speaker 3: his reputation about that speech? And again the BBC could
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  Speaker 3: be arguing no. That said, my sources are saying they
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  Speaker 3: are inclined to offer some kind of amount of money
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  Speaker 3: for damage to his reputation. But time will tell, and
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  Speaker 3: the clock is taking wow.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So I thought the response that he was looking
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  Speaker 2: for was just maybe an apology, like a public humiliation.
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  Speaker 2: But he's that will not suffice.
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  Speaker 3: He's asked for a retraction, an apology, and some money
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  Speaker 3: to compensate him for the damage to his reputation. He
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  Speaker 3: hasn't said how much that is, but the idea of
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  Speaker 3: then that threat for a billion pounds is obviously giving
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  Speaker 3: an indication of how much it thinks it's really damaged
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  Speaker 3: that repetition.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds like he's going to lodge the lawsuit if
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  Speaker 2: he does in Florida, where the BBC is available, does
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  Speaker 2: he have to prove not only that the BBC is available,
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  Speaker 2: but that the show itself was like widely viewed.
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  Speaker 3: I think there is basically an idea that if it's
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  Speaker 3: readily available and as you said, the BBC are there.
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  Speaker 3: But it's interesting that he's lodged it with a very
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  Speaker 3: small local firm of solicitors in Florida, as you said,
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  Speaker 3: where the BBC is available. But it's this idea that
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  Speaker 3: it was something that was massively seen in order to
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  Speaker 3: have affected his reputation. And obviously I suppose one of
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  Speaker 3: the arguments will be well, any viewing would be a damage,
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  Speaker 3: but the idea that it was widely seen in America,
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  Speaker 3: it would be debated by the BBC.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, fair enough. Now what's the latest with Andrew? All
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  Speaker 2: the businesses have been wound up?
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  Speaker 3: Yes they are, And this I think is really another
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  Speaker 3: nail in the coffin of his career, as it were,
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  Speaker 3: and Andrew mount Batan Windsor. Incidentally, it's now hyphenated the
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  Speaker 3: mount Batan Windsor Thing. Andrew mount Baten Winsor is closing
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  Speaker 3: down the pitch at Palace Global Limited. Now those who
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  Speaker 3: have followed these things will know that he had sort of.
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  Speaker 3: It was a startup competition where entrepreneurs could present their
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  Speaker 3: ideas straight to potential investors, and this was one seen
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  Speaker 3: as a possible stream of income for the former Prince
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  Speaker 3: when the King stopped fin supporting him financially. However, when
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  Speaker 3: he gave that disastrous interview to the BBC about his
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  Speaker 3: friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, it was
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  Speaker 3: put on ice, and now we know that he's actually
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  Speaker 3: physically closed it. The UK side of the business was
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  Speaker 3: wound up in twenty twenty one. The international part, though,
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  Speaker 3: has remained open, and a Dutch company startup boot Camp,
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  Speaker 3: had said it was actually interested in buying the business,
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  Speaker 3: saying it was an immense value, but that however, unraveled
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  Speaker 3: earlier this year. There is only about twenty one thousand
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  Speaker 3: New Zealand dollars left at the end of March from
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  Speaker 3: the account, significantly down on the previous year about half
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  Speaker 3: a million New Zealand dollars, and so the winding up
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  Speaker 3: looks like a more formal step than anything else, but
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  Speaker 3: it is another huge dent to Prince Andrew or Andrew's
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  Speaker 3: reputation because this was something he really really cared about.
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  Speaker 2: Now, is Kirstama really in trouble?
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  Speaker 3: Do you think?
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  Speaker 1: Yes?
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  Speaker 3: I think he is. The very fact now that this
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  Speaker 3: is making national news. So in a couple of weeks time,
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  Speaker 3: we get the budget, which is an outline of the
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  Speaker 3: fiscal and financial path that this government is intending to take.
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  Speaker 3: And even though it's a fortnight away and even though
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  Speaker 3: we don't actually know what's in it, there's been massive
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  Speaker 3: The government is going to have to basically renee on
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  Speaker 3: a promise it made at the election, and that promise
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  Speaker 3: was it would not put up taxes for what it
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  Speaker 3: described as working people. So it got around it first
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  Speaker 3: time around by putting extra taxes on employers. Those employers say, right, well,
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  Speaker 3: we're not now going to take on any new staff
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  Speaker 3: and it's costing us a lot to keep these stuff,
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  Speaker 3: and so they're laying people off and the unemployment figures
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  Speaker 3: going up. This government now looks like it's in a
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  Speaker 3: bigger financial hole and therefore will have to put up taxes.
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  Speaker 3: And there are now there's talk admittedly not on camera,
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  Speaker 3: not to in quote marks, but talk from lots of
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  Speaker 3: different politicians about the fact his days are numbered. His
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  Speaker 3: supporters are saying he will fight this to the end.
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  Speaker 2: Jay's interesting. Can't wait to see this play out. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: thank you very Muchkevin Devin Gray are UK correspondents.
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