

Balcombe MP Francis Maude

Balcombe MP Francis Maude appointed Lord Browne, a director of Cuadrilla Resource Holdings Ltd, to the Cabinet Office in June 2010.

The Cuadrilla executive ‘works closely‘ with the cabinet office board, chaired by Maude, in his role as ‘lead non-executive’.

On appointing Browne, Maude said: “his experience will be a real benefit to make Whitehall work in a more businesslike manner”.

In January Maude visited Balcombe to talk to consitutents concerned about hydraulic fracturing in the village. Those who attended described the MP as ‘non-committal’.

At the meeting, Maude failed to disclose his association with a senior member of the Cuadrilla management team, nor their close working relationship.

Browne joined Cuadrilla four months before his appointment to government. In one of his many roles he acts as Managing Director of Riverstone LLC – in February 2010 Riverstone invested 27m in Cuadrilla and Browne and two other Riverstone executives joined the Cuadrilla board. He was instrumental in hiring the current head of UK operations, Mark Miller.



Cuadrilla director Lord Browne

