It was already dark when the Duke of York swept into the exclusive Morosani Schweizerhof hotel after a gruelling day at the end of January.
Prince Andrew had been invited to a reception hosted by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, during the World Economic Forum at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
The Duke had attended an official meeting with Indonesia’s trade minister earlier in the day but the reception was a chance for informal, unrecorded conversations with the country’s senior political figures.
The Times’s revelation today that Britain hopes to sell fighters to Indonesia will fuel the growing controversy surrounding the Duke’s role as an official trade envoy. He has been a key player in helping to court the Indonesian regime at the request of the British Government.
In April 2009 he went to the president’s suite at the Grosvenor Park Hotel in London. In 2008 he visited him at his palace in Jakarta following a meeting with the minister of defence.
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UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the government agency that arranges the Duke’s official trips as a trade envoy, describes Indonesia as having “huge potential”.
British exports totalled £327 million in the third quarter of last year and UKTI has designated the south east Asian country as one of its “high growth markets” with opportunities in financial services, oil, mining and infrastructure projects.
The Duke’s future has come under intense scrutiny since it was revealed last month that he had maintained a friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, an American billionaire convicted of sex offences against young girls. The criticism has now expanded to his relationship with countries with questionable records on corruption and human rights.
With the Duke’s role focused on North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, he is a guest of some of the world’s most controversial regimes.
Yesterday he was condemned for meeting the presidents of the former Soviet Republics of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. He was described as having developed a “close friendship” with Illham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, having made eight visits in just five years to discuss “oil, gas and energy security issues”.
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The regime has been accused by rigging elections and jailing opponents.
The Duke last visited Gurbanguly Berdimuhamediov, the president of Turkmenistan, last April to discuss “co-operation in energy and the fuel sector”. Turkmenistan is ranked the six most corrupt of 178 countries surveyed by Transparency International, an anti-corruption group.
Ministers have so far given the Duke their backing in public but Britain’s business leaders this week were acerbic.
One of Britain’s largest manufacturers told The Times: “He is a complete prat and I don’t know anybody in industry who has got any time for him.
“I wish he would just go away. I think maybe in the Middle East he can open doors but I struggle to see what use he is anywhere else in the world.”
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Other senior business leaders feel the same, but few will say so publicly, in part because they are desperate for Government support in winning export orders.
There is a perception that the Government has not backed manufacturers in recent years and his was a rare voice speaking for them. “Andrew’s not really done much but something is better than nothing,” said the chief executive of another major corporation. “For so long, it has felt like nobody was out there for us so we will take any help that’s offered.”
One trade source said: “As an ambassador you are going to meet a whole lot of people you would not normally invite for dinner. If he was being paid a whopping fortune you’d expect more but he isn’t.”
Notching up the air miles
The Duke’s trips as trade envoy to the Middle East, Asia and the Far East between 2008 and 2011:
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Algeria May 2009
Azerbaijan November 2008; June, December 2009; November 2010
Bahrain March and November 2009; May 2010
Bhutan March 2010
China November 2008; March, September and October 2010
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Egypt January and May 2008; October 2009
India March 2008; March 2010
Indonesia March 2008
Jordan March 2008
Kuwait April 2008; May 2010
Kyrgyzstan October 2008; April 2010
Libya November 2008
Malaysia May and October 2010
Mongolia October 2007
Oman November 2009; November 2010
Qatar April and October 2009
Singapore September 2008; October and November 2009; October 2010
Saudi Arabia March, September and November 2009; May 2010
South Korea October 2008
Thailand October 2009
Tunisia May 2009
Turkmenistan October 2008; April 2010
United Arab Emirates January and April 2008; November 2009; November 2010
Vietnam September 2008; October 2009; October 2010
Yemen November 2009