'Slumps are good': Cameron's glamorous millionaire trade guru accused of 'hurtful' remarks



David Cameron's trade ambassador Anya Hindmarch likes downturns



One of David Cameron’s glamorous new trade ambassadors was accused by Labour yesterday of making ‘offensive and hurtful’ remarks after saying she ‘likes’ economic slumps.

Handbag designer Anya Hindmarch, a close friend of Samantha Cameron, said: ‘I quite like a recession, weirdly.’



She said such crises were an opportunity for businesses to become more efficient.

‘Generally, for business, the recession has obviously been hard. But I think often a recession is a very good clean-up time. It makes you get quite fit in business.’

She said a downturn forced firms to focus on the fundamentals. ‘It puts everything back into place: cost-cutting, careful management, and good communication, and really looking after your customers.’

Ms Hindmarch added: ‘We have very tricky employment laws, and we have people who have minimum wage. Those things are really good, but we don’t have cheap labour and therefore we won’t compete with places like China

very easily.’

Multi-millionaire Tory donor Ms Hindmarch, 42, also spoke of her friendship with Mrs Cameron. ‘I really like her. I know her professionally but we also have some friends in common. She is a great girl.’

But her remarks prompted a scathing response from former Labour Minister Ian Austin, who said: ‘We all know David Cameron and his mates live in a different world to the rest of us, but even he must realise how offensive these remarks will be to people who lost their businesses, jobs or homes during the downturn.



‘He must apologise for his donor’s hurtful and thoughtless remarks.’

Ms Hindmarch’s job as trade ambassador will involve representing Mr Cameron and Britain on official visits, meeting foreign ministers and delivering speeches when travelling overseas.

