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A Czech energy magnate who union leaders claim is plotting a Royal Mail takeover is being advised by Chuka Umunna, The Telegraph can reveal.
The former Labor hopeful leader, who was a prominent critic of the Royal Mail privatization while a frontbench MP, has been hired by billionaire investor Daniel Kretinsky’s investment firm Vesa Equity.
Mr. Umunna will join Vesa in his role as general manager and division head at JP Morgan, a position he has held since early 2021.
He advises Kretinsky on his UK interests, including a 23 per cent stake in Royal Mail, a 10 per cent stake in Sainsbury’s and co-ownership of Premier League football club West Ham United.
Mr Kretinsky, whose net worth of $5.3 billion comes from owning the largest energy group in Central Europe, has been accused by postal unions of pushing for a takeover or split of Royal Mail.
Dave Ward, head of the Communication Workers Union, has also claimed Mr Kretinsky is behind the accelerating pace of change at Royal Mail, including plans to have letters delivered six days a week.
The allegations come as Royal Mail is fighting its worst labor dispute since privatisation, with postal workers on strike in protest at reforms to wages and working practices.
Mr Kretinsky has been nicknamed the “Czech Sphinx” due to a lack of public statements and his Royal Mail intentions are unclear.
Mr Umunna’s involvement exposes him to accusations of hypocrisy. The former MP, who left parliament in 2019, previously argued that David Cameron’s privatization of Royal Mail in 2013 would “destroy the UK’s universal postal service”.
He said in 2013: “It is impossible for private companies to deliver six days a week to every address in the UK.
“By keeping the Royal Mail in public ownership, the taxpayer has a continuing direct interest in the universal postal services in this country…
Mr. Umunna joined JP Morgan in 2021 as head of environmental, social and corporate governance in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, following a political career that saw him repeatedly criticize the banking industry.
He criticized “reckless pay that encourages risky behavior” in the years following the global financial crisis and in 2011 retweeted an Evening Standard editorial that said, “A banker’s boot on the throat of small businesses is a boot on the throat of the entire economy .”
Representatives for JP Morgan and Mr. Umunna declined to comment.
Finsbury, the PR firm founded by Brexit critic Roland Rudd, also advises Kretinsky. Like Mr Umunna, Finsbury has historical links with the Labor Party. Mr Rudd campaigned on behalf of Lord Peter Mandelson in the early 1990s and advised Sir Tony Blair after he left office.
Although Finsbury was sold to advertising giant WPP more than two decades ago, Mr. Rudd remains the chairman of the company.
Mr Kretinsky, who also owns power stations in the UK, remains an enigma to many. He rarely gives interviews, despite owning parts of Czech media and a stake in France’s Le Monde.
He began building stakes in Royal Mail three years ago and has been cleared to continue acquiring shares following an investigation by the Business Department.
Josef Kotrba, who heads accounting giant Deloitte in the Czech Republic, said in 2020: “He is the definition of rationality and lack of emotion. He is highly analytical and does much of the financial analysis himself.
“The exception to this non-emotional and analytical way of investing is the money he put into football. He is such a passionate football fan. I think it’s the only investment that makes no sense apart from the rest of his interests .”
Mr. Kretinsky owns the Czech football club Sparta Prague. He acquired a 21 per cent stake in West Ham United in 2021 with an option to buy out the club’s long-term owners David Gold and David Sullivan at a later date.
Finsbury declined to comment, as did representatives for Mr Kretinsky.
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