In his new column for the Day by day Mail, the previous Prime Minister, who was additionally Mayor of London between 2008 and 2016, spoke about their first “weird” assembly collectively at Buckingham Palace. He claimed Andrew wished to “knock down” one in every of London’s most well-known buildings – Battersea Energy Station. The enduring Grade II* listed constructing is positioned on the south financial institution of the River Thames.
In accordance with Mr Johnson, Andrew wished to make London “much more enticing”.
He wrote: “The Prince was then the federal government’s official commerce envoy. So, we did. We went off to tea at Buckingham Palace, and it was all a bit weird.
“The Duke of York had a sequence of concepts, maybe gleaned from a few of his worldwide contacts, about how we may make London much more enticing to the world’s billionaire buyers. Keep in mind that this was again within the good outdated days, earlier than Starmer’s Pol Pot battle on wealth creators. London on the time had extra billionaires than another metropolis on this planet.
“However the Duke thought that we may do higher. Have a look at Battersea Energy Station, he stated.
“It was an eyesore, a spoil. It was blocking the event of an enormous and probably profitable website at Vauxhall.
“Why don’t we simply knock it down,’ he stated. Because it occurs, I had introduced with me the late Sir Simon Milton, my fantastic deputy mayor. Simon tried to clarify that the previous energy station was an architectural masterpiece. It was listed Grade 1, a part of our cultural heritage. We had been positive we may develop the positioning, however with out destruction.
“Andrew was unconvinced. ‘It’ll by no means occur,’ he stated.”
Andrew’s time as a commerce envoy not too long ago got here into the highlight after paperwork from the three million Epstein recordsdata revealed that he could have shared confidential info with the convicted intercourse offender.
He was arrested final week on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace however was launched after 11 hours below investigation.
Andrew has all the time denied any wrongdoing.
