How the British Upper Class Became Servants to the Global Elite

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: Who better to understand the needs of global capitalism’s mega-rich than Britons who grew up with staff themselves?

‘London is known to the world’s wealthy as a place to eat in expensive restaurants, park your supercar outside Harrods (above), and check on your barely used properties and hidden investments.’ Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
Britain is good at wealth. Not necessarily at generating it, or distributing it in ways that make a contented society, but at looking after it, helping it grow and making it respectable – converting it into social and cultural capital. For centuries, British bankers, lawyers, accountants and other assistants to the wealthy have discreetly performed these roles.

Their customers used to be mostly British: slave traders, self-made industrialists, people who had extracted fortunes from our colonies. But in recent decades, foreigners have become the main beneficiaries of Britain’s readiness to serve the rich regardless of how they made their money. So significant is this change that Britain has become “butler to the world”, according to a persuasive new book by the anti-corruption campaigner and journalist Oliver Bullough. » | Andy Beckett | Thursday, March 10, 2022