"It's Jeffrey Howie!"

Xia Yu, who was sitting in the crowd, saw the old man in his fifties who took the lead on the stage, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Jeffrey Howie, a member of the Conservative Party and Margaret Thatcher's right-hand man, is now the Chancellor of the Exchequer in charge of economic and financial affairs in the British Cabinet.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, also known as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is one of the four British Ministers of State, and because he holds the purse, he has the status of the head of the four Ministers of State.

According to later generations, Jeffrey Howie was the longest-serving member of Margaret's cabinet, and later served as foreign secretary, speaker of the House of Commons and deputy prime minister, and Margaret stepped down three weeks later after announcing his resignation from all positions in 1990.

It was such an important person who had a lot of opportunities to come over to participate in this financial industry gathering at this time.

Before he came, he didn't know that Jeffrey Howie would appear.

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

Just when he had some guesses, Jeffrey Howie on the stage smiled and began his speech.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and it is an honor to ...... on this special occasion"

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

"Now the cabinet is already formulating a series of policies to stimulate economic and market development, but there are still possible capital constraints. ”

"The British economy is about to recover, this is a historical opportunity, gentlemen can choose to follow the trend of history to make their companies grow rapidly, you can also sit on the sidelines, you have the right to choose the path, but I sincerely hope that all can enjoy a delicious feast of wealth, not only for yourself, but also for the benefit of the whole country......"

"I'll see, it took up five minutes of everyone's 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, although he is the Minister of Finance, he is still not the protagonist, and he took this opportunity to say everything that should be said, and the implication is obvious enough, if you still can't understand it, you can only say that the level is not enough, the strength is not enough, and this kind of person is not the target that the cabinet desperately needs.

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

"Feast of Fortune ......"

He chewed the word in his mouth, a smile hooked up at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes looked around, and found that many people had solemn faces and golden eyes, obviously the news was smoother than Xia Yu.

"Calculating the time, there is still more than a month to start. ”

Xia Yu recalled for a moment, calculated in his heart, and came up with an approximate point in time.

Although no one has informed him now, Xia Yu knows very well that in October, Margaret's cabinet completed the preliminary preparations, paved the way, and officially began privatization reform, the first to start the operation is British Petroleum, and will release 19% of the equity at one time.

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

After all, in the UK, the higher the degree of nationalization, the worse the state-owned enterprises will be, the more serious the losses, and the greater the retaliation against the government's finances.

But that's just to think about it, knowing that this is a capitalist country, and the extent of capital's influence on the government cannot be explained in a few words.

It is precisely because of the low proportion of state-owned enterprises in the oil extraction industry that they face greater competitive pressure, and the greater the threat to the private sector in the oil industry, it is conceivable that they can survive in such a situation.

Xia Yu knows that the Margaret government's use of the knife against the oil industry is precisely because of the oppression of capital behind it, or the return of interests, to the oil interest groups that support the Conservative Party.

The previous government was run by the Labour Party, and at the time of the general election, the opposition Labour Party's election platform clearly advocated strengthening the government's control over the North Sea's oil resources, oil production and transportation.

This slogan was very popular and brought the Labour Party to power in a winning election.

After the Labour Party came to power, when the first batch of oil fields in the British North Sea began to be produced, the Labour government successively promulgated the "Petroleum Tax Act" and the "Petroleum and Underwater Management Act" through Parliament, stipulating that the crude oil produced in the British North Sea would be subject to an additional "oil income tax" according to the rise in international oil prices at that time.

These two bills greatly expanded the rights of the energy sector, and then the Labour government established BP through which it strengthened government control and oversight of the oil industry.

Moreover, the Labour government shamelessly gave BP a policy affiliation, granting it some special rights and functions.

The first is to ensure the supply of oil to the UK, and BP has the right to buy and sell 51% of the crude oil produced by the British fields off the North Sea at market prices, a right that represents the Labour government's representation in the operators of the fields.

Second, in the fifth round of tenders in 1977 and the sixth round in early 1979, the government stipulated that the winning foreign companies should give BP a 51% stake.

Thirdly, the Labour government has also granted BP 11 offshore blocks to operate the block.

Finally, it also stipulates that BP has the right of first refusal to purchase the shares of the mines in the North Sea of the United Kingdom, and does not have to pay oil income tax because the company pays the profits to the government.

In less than five years after its founding, BP became one of the largest oil companies in the North Sea, and in 1978, the oil fields it purchased also began to produce oil, posing a huge threat to major oil companies.

Moreover, in 1978, BP bought and sold crude oil from various companies in the North Sea worth $1.5 billion, and sold its own shares and self-produced oil worth $400 million, making a profit for the first time.

In the case of the general loss of state-owned enterprises, BP has made unprecedented profits, and with so many privileges in its hands, private oil companies will be consumed, so it has naturally become a thorn in the side of all private oil companies.

At the beginning of the year, the opposition Conservative Party seized the opportunity and raised the slogan of opposing the government's intervention in the oil industry, and the oil interest groups naturally made peace with the Conservative Party and vigorously supported the Conservative Party to come to power.

What the Conservatives have to pay for is to remove the privileges and functions of BP, to return all companies to the same line, and for the government to withdraw from the oil industry.

However, the privatization of BP does not mean that the equity will be sold to the original oil interest groups, but everyone is qualified to compete.

Therefore, the Conservative government used it as a huge bargaining chip, exchanging interests with all parties.

For example, just now, Finance Minister Jeffrey Howie said it very explicitly.

Although he did not say that he was doing it in the oil field, as long as the people at the top level mobilized their connections, they could still know some policy news about the cabinet.

Jeffrey Howie's meaning is obvious, if you want to qualify for the competition, then take out enough chips to get on the ship of the Conservative government, fund the government's economic reforms, activate the dormant market potential again, and let the money flow in society!

Only when money flows can a series of economic benefits be generated, and the government can collect more taxes, and then use the tax revenues to improve people's livelihood and develop the economy, thus forming a virtuous circle.

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

No one else knows, but he knows that the Conservative government will give a one-time 19 percent stake this time.

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

He doesn't need to take a five-percent stake, which is simply not realistic.

He just needs a ticket, a ticket to get involved in the British oil sector!

The equity does not need to be much, and he is satisfied if he can take one percent.

Now he does not have the strength to compete with the big British conglomerates and the American Rockefeller and other conglomerates in the oil field.

But as long as he gets a little bit of equity, then he can drill holes little by little through this gap, and when he is strong, he will not be abrupt when he enters the oil field, and he will not be jointly targeted.

Xia Yu looked at Duke Carter Howard, who was sitting in the VIP seat, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he thought in his heart.