Business leaders are becoming increasingly sceptical of the PM’s commitment to trade ahead of a visit to Japan, Sky News learns.
Sky News has learnt that the Prime Minister wants to restrict the size of the business delegation that will join her trip to the world’s third-biggest economy later this month.
She is also said to be keen to avoid what a person close to her Downing Street operation described as the “theatre” of signing ceremonies co-ordinated to unveil bilateral corporate deals.
Sources said that as few as 15-20 business leaders might accompany Mrs May on the visit, which is scheduled to include talks with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, on issues such as trade and defence.
A delegation of that size would be a far cry from the scores of executives who were invited to join her predecessor, David Cameron, on similar trips to Asia – although he took just under 40 private sector bosses on a trade mission to Japan in April 2012.
The delegation travelling with Mrs May will include Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, and her counterpart at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) , Adam Marshall, according to a source.
The list is still being finalised, with one Downing Street official suggesting that responsibility for putting together the delegation partly lay with the Department for International Trade.
Further names are expected to be added in the coming days, according to one source, while efforts to corral a list of business deals to be announced during the PM’s trip have been accelerated in the last few days, they said.
The final number of business leaders who accompany Mrs May could yet exceed 20, the source added.
A weak performance in terms of deal announcements during the trade mission would risk reinforcing the belief of many in the British business community that Mrs May has only a lukewarm enthusiasm for the success of private enterprise.
