TOPIC: Import/export
Who: Robert Jenrick, MP for Newark
Relevance to art market: Jenrick straddles trade and culture sectors as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Trade & Investment and as vice chair of the APPG on Cultural Protection.
He has been vocal about the need for pressure on Gulf states who “turn a blind eye to dealing in illicit antiquities”.
A former Christie’s director, Jenrick represents a constituency that hosts one of Europe’s biggest antiques fairs.
TOPIC: Tax
Who: Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon
Relevance: Stride is junior treasury minister with oversight of the tax system and the performance of HMRC in particular.
A believer in ‘fair taxation’, Stride is responsible for all business tax, including for small businesses, the category into which most auction houses and dealers fall.
TOPIC: Culture
Who: John Glen, MP for Salisbury
Relevance: Glen is junior minister at the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which rules on public collections, exports bars and the overall relevance of the art market to UK culture.
Anthony Browne had contact with Glen last year about VAT, when Glen was chancellor Philip Hammond’s parliamentary private secretary (PPS).
TOPIC: Endangered species
Who: Michael Gove, MP for Surrey Heath
Relevance: Gove is the cabinet minister who oversees the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), whose remit includes protection of endangered species and administering CITES rules in the UK.
He may take convincing about exempting antique ivory from any ban: recently asked on radio if he would consider revisiting the Tories’ 2010 and 2015 pledge for a total ivory ban, Gove gave a definitive answer: “Yes”.
Who: Dr Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal
Relevance: As junior environment minister, Coffey deals with CITES on the UK’s behalf. At the parliamentary debate on ivory in February, she urged appreciation of antique ivory’s cultural significance, warning MPs against taking “symbolic action” to achieve “our shared goal of ending poaching and saving elephants”.
