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An India-born businessman and leading donor to the ruling Labour Party in the United Kingdom has been appointed as business policy adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Dr Arnab Banerji (46) is a member of Labour's 1,000 Club, whose members contribute more than £1,000 to party funds. Last year, he gave Labour more than £5,000.
He was previously Chairman (Group Investment Policy, Strategy, Research) of the Foreign and Colonial Group, which manages funds amounting to $100 billion. He has also served the group in other capacities.
His new job is to advise Blair on business policy as well as health and international development issues.
His appointment has been viewed with concern among some party insiders who anticipate clashes with Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown who considers himself head of the British government's economic and business strategy and would resent any attempt by the prime minister's office to erode his powers.
Opposition politicians are also thought to be uneasy about Banerji's status as a major Labour donor. Unlike in the US, top UK government appointees are supposed to be non-political and the posts often go to career civil servants.
Banerji moved to the UK at the age of three and is said to be one of Blair's oldest friends. Banerji holds degrees in physiology and medicine from Oxford University. A would-be eye surgeon, his career hopes were thwarted by a car accident at the age of 26.
Prior to joining Foreign and Colonial, Banerji had worked with Citibank, Nomura Securities and J Henry Schroder Wagg.
He is an associate of the Institute of Investment Management and Research and Society of Investment Professionals, and member of the Morgan Stanley Capital International Editorial Advisory Board and director on the board of F and C Management Ltd.
In October 2001, he was appointed as one of four independent advisers in the government's Forward Strategy Unit set up to develop 'blue-skies thinking' about the future direction of government policy.
It is an unpaid position and the work is part-time, in cooperation with civil servants on projects commissioned by the prime minister.
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