‘Invisible Power’ of London Money Exposed as Mayor Fights Back

[Joanne98]

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- When money needs to talk in London, it’s the lord mayor who speaks.

Nick Anstee, the 682nd mayor of the U.K. capital’s financial district, is battling politicians from all parties who blame the bankers and brokers he represents for wrecking the country’s economy. Taxpayers assumed more than 800 billion pounds ($1.2 trillion) of liabilities to bail out financial firms, and an election must be held by June.

“The taxpayer doesn’t understand how critical the financial services industry is to them,” Anstee, 51, said in an interview at his 252-year-old Mansion House residence opposite the Bank of England. “This absolutely overwhelming tide of negative attitudes has been brought about in taxpayers’ minds.”

City of London chiefs have championed trade and challenged politicians for centuries. They befriended William the Conqueror, helped overthrow King Charles I and one backed U.S. founding father George Washington. Yet the top lobbyist for Britain’s financial services industry isn’t well-known in the square mile he presides over and where 6,000 companies operate.

The lord mayor is an “invisible power” who Britons don’t recognize as the representative of the banks they bailed out, said London Metropolitan University politics lecturer Maurice Glasman. He’s campaigning to merge Anstee’s government with that of Greater London Authority Mayor Boris Johnson, which was started in 2000 to represent the capital’s 7.5 million people.

‘The Invisibles’

“The bailout made the invisibles visible in a really disturbing way,” said Glasman, 49, walking in front of the City’s six century-old Guildhall a few streets away from Mansion House. “This is the invisible heart of an invisible City that protects invisible earnings.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aiIUZ7_eyGYk&pos=11