Prince Andrew's rejected 'offer of help' to Sheffield Forgemasters weeks after Epstein email revealed

A July 2010 briefing document, provided to this newspaper under Freedom of Information laws, shows the then-royal and trade envoy had made an “offer of help to the company to investigate potential investors” following the cancellation of an £80m Government loan to the firm to fund expansion plans.

But the Government minister due to meet Andrew, Lord Marland, was advised to inform the then-royal that “no further work in this area is required for the time being”.

The offer of help had been made despite Forgemasters bosses having no knowledge of it and the firm having made clear the previous month it was not seeking replacement investment for the cancelled loan.

There was no response to repeated requests for comment from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as the former prince is now known.

Sheffield Forgemasters said it could find no evidence that the company was aware of any potential investors or an offer following the loan cancellation.

Lord Marland said Epstein was not mentioned during his July 2010 meeting with the prince. It is unclear whether there is a link between an email sent to Epstein earlier that month by an associate of the prince and the offer of help to find investors.

The Government did not respond directly to questions about what it knew of Prince Andrew’s offer and the identity of any potential investors but provided a statement saying it is fully cooperating with a police investigation. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor is currently under investigation for misconduct in public office and has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

In March 2010, then Business Secretary Peter Mandelson had announced an £80m Government loan to Forgemasters to fund expansion plans involving a new 15,000-tonne press.

However in June that year the loan was cancelled by the new coalition government. At the time, the firm’s then chief executive Graham Honeyman said the company was hugely disappointed but intended “to focus on other elements of the company’s development”.

Despite this, new Business Secretary Vince Cable told Parliament on July 8 that officials were working to “achieve a private sector solution”.

Files about Epstein, who had been sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor under a controversial plea deal where more serious charges were dropped, had previously revealed he had been contacted on July 1, 2010, about the company.

A man named David Stern, who has been described by the BBC as a ‘key conduit’ between Prince Andrew and Epstein after appearing thousands of times in the Epstein files, wrote: “Had meeting with PA - no action re Sheffield Foregmasters [sic] and Aston Martin without your go-ahead. He is waiting for further info from the companies which I will send you - will join him at dinner on Monday for China-Britain Business Council.”

Mr Honeyman said he had been unaware of any ‘offer of help’ from Prince Andrew or the company being mentioned to Jeffrey Epstein. “People are trying to make a connection between us and Epstein but there is absolutely not,” he said. “It sounds like a lot of this has been going on without the knowledge of people at Forgemasters and I would know because I was chief executive.”

The Government’s briefing document include a general note that any potential investor in Forgemasters at the time “would have to be acceptable to MoD and US”.

Sheffield Forgemasters unaware of Prince’s ‘offer’

Sheffield Forgemasters and its former chief executive say they knew nothing of an “offer of help” by Prince Andrew to find investors in the steel firm shortly after an £80m loan for the company had been cancelled amidst huge controversy.

It was revealed earlier this year that Forgemasters had been mentioned in the Epstein Files, with Jeffrey Epstein contacted about the company by a man named David Stern on July 1, 2010. It came shortly after an £80m Government loan for the company to fund expansion plans had been cancelled by the new coalition government, which was suggesting private funding could be sought as an alternative.

Mr Stern has been described as a ‘key conduit’ between Epstein and Prince Andrew.

Following the mention of the company in the Epstein Files, The Yorkshire Post submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Government in February seeking the release of correspondence relating to the matter. This newspaper can now reveal that on July 20, 2010, Lord Marland, who was an energy minister at the time, was sent a briefing note about a meeting he was due to have with the Duke of York at Buckingham Palace on July 22.

The note has been largely redacted but its published elements state: “On Sheffield Forgemasters, you should thank His Royal Highness for his offer of help to the company to investigate potential investors. “Following the withdrawal of the conditional loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, the company and officials have been considering whether this could be funded from the private sector.Having carried out their own analysis and discussed the options available the company now wishes to have a quiet period to build the company and reflect on how best to take it forward,

“The company is expected to make a statement to this effect before Wednesday (21st) evening and release a press note with supportive words from the Business Secretary. You should request His Royal Highness keeps these developments confidential until the company has had a chance to make a statement on this issue later this week. Given the company’s position no further work in this area is required for the time being.”

An annex to the briefing note stated Forgemasters had been willing to sell up to 40 per cent of its equity to a private equity provider for up to £40m when the government loan was on the table. It said since the withdrawal of the loan offer, the company and officials had looked at other options including a potential majority or complete sale. But the note said “company not willing to give up control given previous history; new owner would have to be acceptable to MoD and US; no buyer with enough funds to invest in the new press has come forward”.

Lord Marland, who subsequently replaced Prince Andrew as trade envoy following the Duke of York’s 2011 resignation from the post, told The Yorkshire Post that the meeting had progressed along those lines.

“There was no mention of Jeffrey Epstein I can recall,” he said. “I asked Prince Andrew to withdraw from trying to find financial backing for Sheffield Forgemasters but there was not at any point mention of Jeffrey Epstein, who at that stage I had never heard of.”

Graham Honeyman, who was Sheffield Forgemasters chief executive at the time, said he had not been aware of Prince Andrew’s offer to find potential investors. He said the company had not been seeking alternative investment more generally. “We decided to take stock and not get involved in private money because that can sometimes be very expensive. We backed off it really. At that time, I’d never heard of Epstein, I didn’t know who he was.

“It is only in the last few years I’d heard anything about him. But before that I didn’t know anything about him, he’s certainly not visited the company in any shape or form.”

Prince Andrew had visited Forgemasters the year before but Mr Honeyman said there was no further contact with him. “To be honest, there might have been things going on in the background but it was completely unknown to me. At that time we were all so deflated that the government had reneged on this offer, we wanted to take stock about where we were going with all of this.”

A spokesperson from Sheffield Forgemasters said: “We have found no evidence that the company was aware of an offer, or sources of potential investors, once the public investment was cancelled. The company made a statement in June 2010 stating that it would focus on other projects.”

Richard Caborn, who had campaigned for Forgemasters to receive the government loan as the local MP and a former trade minister, said he also knew nothing of Prince Andrew’s ‘offer of help’ to find investors.

Mr Caborn said the new government’s cancellation of the £80m loan had a symbolic significance which meant it was unlikely any private investment would have succeeded without Government support. “I think that would have been flying a kite by his advisers.”

He added: “The government backing the industrial strategy represented by the £80m to start building up high-value heavy engineering capacity and capability in the UK... was a long-term investment.

“Once the government pulled the plug on that, they effectively pulled the plug on long-term investment into heavy engineering manufacturing. That was the signal they sent out. Therefore to have got private sector investment into that without government backing… nobody would have touched it.”

Mr Caborn said while he “knew of” David Stern and may have previously met him, he was not aware of any discussions he knew of in relation to Forgemasters funding.

The Yorkshire Post attempted to contact David Stern via the Cambridge Judge Business School, where he had been on the advisory board before resigning in February after him being named thousands of times in the Epstein files. A spokesperson said: “David Stern is no longer a member of the Advisory Board of Cambridge Judge Business School.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We are fully cooperating with Thames Valley Police, and last week we published documents about the creation of the role and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment in 2001.”

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “We cannot go into specifics of the investigation, but we are considering all pieces of information and will take appropriate action where necessary.”

Battle to receive information

Following the publication of the Epstein Files email, in February The Yorkshire Post submitted an FoI to the Department for Business and Trade seeking information about any involvement by Prince Andrew, David Stern, Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson in discussions about Forgemasters and its funding.

After repeated delays in receiving a response, this newspaper complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

It found Department for Business and Trade had breached FoI rules by failing to respond and ordered it to provide a response within 30 days.

The department provided a response, including a heavily redacted version of the briefing document about Prince Andrew’s offer, the following day.