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Deripaska and Cashcroft: a tale of two billionaires First Post

30.10.09

Barrow has promised to unpick a series of commercial deals that he says Ashcroft has used to "soak" the country in the manner of a colonial overlord.

"This sense of Lord Ashcroft's, that he can pretty much call all the shots, and that national governments must simply allow him to have his way – that's colonialism," said Barrow. "I first met him in the 80s when he said he was interested in helping Belize. We actually - silly us - thought he was talking about being philanthropic more than anything else. But he was certainly not a knight in shining armour."

Barrow had a stark warning for David Cameron heading into the election campaign: "You would think that government in the UK is so powerful and so diverse that he could not exercise the kind of influence he has been able to here. But there must be a warning in this: if he can he will. Based on my experience, he fully expects that he who pays the piper plays the tune."

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