Clare Barclay is the new chief executive at Microsoft UK. She will oversee the British Government’s Industrial Strategy.
Barclay is to chair the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council. This council will advise the government, in partnership with business, unions, and other stakeholders.
She said, “While we embrace today’s industries, we also need a plan for the future. The advisory council will be a key part of shaping and delivering that plan.”
Her appointment was announced just before a major investment summit in central London hosted by senior ministers on Monday. Sir Keir starmer hopes the summit will give him the chance to highlight Britain’s newly found political stability, and to explain his plan to get Britain “building again”, for example by reforming planning. He also wants to reassure executives regarding tax increases in the October 30 Budget.
Starmer will likely say that regulators must ensure they do not act as barriers to growth.
Ministers will highlight their plans to create a National Wealth Fund that would help finance the decarbonisation heavy industry, and a new green energy lender owned by the state called GB Energy.
Barclays sponsors the summit, along with HSBC and Lloyds. Other sponsors include M&G, Octopus, TSL and Octopus Energy. Attendees will include Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, GSK Chief Emma Walmsley, and former Google Chair Eric Schmidt.
Despite the fact that hundreds of business leaders will be attending, some have expressed their displeasure at the poor organization. A suggestion made by port operator DP World to postpone a PS1bn pledge of investment after ministerial criticisms of its subsidiary P&O prompted a cabinet dispute on Friday.
Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, told the summit his new industrial policy is intended to “put Britain back in the global stage” and attract global investment from rival nations.
He said that “our modern industrial strategy” would give investors the confidence to plan for not only the next year but also for the following 10 years.
The industrial strategy will be focused on eight sectors, where he claimed the UK has a competitive advantage: creative industries; financial services; advanced manufacturing; professional services; defence, technology, life sciences, and clean energy industries.
The final version will be decided after extensive consultations with the business community following a release of a green book on Monday.
The Industrial Strategy Council is a statutory institution, similar to the Office for Budget Responsibility or the Committee on Climate Change. This will make it more difficult for ministers and government officials to ignore the council’s findings and recommendations.
Barclay’s appointment marks a return to normality in the UK-Microsoft relationship, which had been strained last year by the Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to block Microsoft’s $75bn acquisition Activision Blizzard due antitrust concerns.
Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith argued that the decision made by the Conservative government would “discourage innovation and investment”, while Activision claimed Britain was “closed to business”. Microsoft later agreed to make changes in the transaction, and the CMA approved the deal.
Barclay is the UK head of Microsoft since 2020. She was a non executive director of the CBI, a business lobby group that was embroiled in scandal last year due to allegations of sexual harassment and serious misconduct.
In the next few weeks, Barclay will be appointed to an interim advisory board by the government.
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