Chapter 395 Smoke Bomb

Brown has been a little depressed recently, and it’s easy to imagine why.

Originally, Blair should have given up the position of leader of the Labor Party to him, and in fact, he mentioned this matter more than once between last year and the beginning of this year.

But in the end, after the date for the general election was announced, it was still Blair who competed for the position of prime minister as the leader of the Labor Party.

It can be said that his mood at this time is somewhat complicated. He is not willing to see Blair win on behalf of the Labor Party and become the leader of the Labor Party for the first time to achieve the third consecutive term as Prime Minister. He also does not want the Labor Party to lose to the menacing Conservative Party - after all If the Labor Party wins, he may still take over as Prime Minister of Blair, but what if...

Therefore, although this is a critical period for all parties to build momentum and publicity for the general election, he still does not put too much energy on it. Today he was invited to Neverland, hoping to relax after work.

"The Prime Minister may think that his approval rating is recovering with the end of the war, but whether this is the case is hard to say."

After entering the room specially reserved for the two of them by Barron with Brown, he picked up a glass of whiskey, poured the wine for the Labor Party's No. 2 figure, clinked glasses with him, and said relaxedly.

"It's really hard to say. This time the Conservative Party is coming in force, and their support rate exceeds ours in many places..."

Although Brown's words are true, he does not have too much pessimism. Perhaps he himself cannot tell which one he prefers between seeing Blair defeated and the Labor Party winning.

He took a sip of wine, looked at Barron, and said:

"And your Royal Highness the Duke, your media has been very obvious in supporting the Conservative Party for some time..."

"Ha ha……"

Barron didn't feel embarrassed at all about Brown's words. He said with a normal expression:

"That's because it's someone else who represents the Labor Party, and if it were you, believe me, Mr Brown, you would have every support possible."

After drinking the whiskey in the glass in one gulp, Barron said jokingly:

"And I don't think the Conservative Party will pose much of a threat to you this time, because everyone knows that their party leader graduated from Cambridge University..."

Brown couldn't help laughing when he heard his words.

A classic British political textbook once summarized the characteristics of the Prime Minister: white, male, over 40 years old, Eton College and Oxford University - this stereotype has not been completely broken to this day. The only special one is Mrs. Thatcher. Female, but she also graduated from Oxford University...

This also coincides with the island sentiment that Britain has never advocated for the "British Dream". There are only very realistic classes and backgrounds here.

It can be said that especially after World War II, this general rule has almost become an iron law.

So as another prestigious British school that is often ranked alongside Oxford, does the University of Cambridge have such no sense of existence?

In fact, there is also a "Cambridge Gang" in British politics, but most of them are now retiring in the House of Lords...

The Cambridge Gang was active in the 1980s and 1990s and played a huge role in the eras of Margaret Thatcher and Major. Unfortunately, these two Conservative Prime Ministers also graduated from Oxford.

The current Conservative Party leader Howard, who is now competing with Blair for the position of Prime Minister, graduated from Cambridge University - he was also the last Conservative Party leader to graduate from Cambridge University until Barron's previous life until his rebirth.

Barron graduated from the University of London, and Brown graduated from the University of Edinburgh...well, the original Edinburgh, so the two joked about it without any burden at all.

In fact, although on the surface, the newspapers, TV stations and other media owned by Barron are leaning towards the Conservative Party in this election, he is also controlling the intensity of support.

The final result is that the Labor Party wins in the original time and space, and Blair is re-elected as Prime Minister, which is most appropriate.

In this case, current Conservative Party leader Howard lost the election and was disheartened, handing over the position of party leader to Cameron at the end of the year.

Two years later, Blair handed over the position of prime minister to Brown...

Well, everyone is happy.

"My friend, the position of prime minister will be yours sooner or later. Trust me, now is the time to relax and enjoy the moment."

Barron patted Brown on the shoulder and said relaxedly.

…

United Energy Group's financing is in progress. At this stage, they will conduct surveys among target investment clients and choose between issuing new shares, convertible bonds, and a mixture of the two.

This time, their target customers will be mainly British capital.

Of course, at this time, Barron will not reveal that United Energy Group’s financing target this time is the American company Unocal, otherwise Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs Group will also be waiting for the price.

Therefore, United Energy Group's financing this time also comes with a smoke bomb - United Energy Group has begun to contact the National Grid Corporation of England, trying to offer a price to acquire their natural gas network business.

According to estimates, once United Energy Group can successfully acquire the natural gas business of National Grid of England and merge it with the natural gas network of the former Northern Gas Company they already own, it will become the largest natural gas transmission network in the UK.

Therefore, this acquisition seems very likely.

Because United Energy Group owns 30% of Kolo Petroleum Company.

At present, Colo Petroleum Company has not only discovered oil reserves in Block 1 of the Colo Offshore Oil Field, but the natural gas resources contained there are also extremely rich.

After the natural gas is extracted, it can be directly transported to Britain and entered into their natural gas network for transmission to British users.

These businesses are inherently related to each other, so United Energy Group’s acquisition of the natural gas business of National Grid did not arouse anyone’s suspicion.

In fact, this acquisition of National Grid's natural gas business is not just a smoke bomb.

Ten years after the original time and space, Li Chaoren's Yangtze River Infrastructure acquired 51% of the shares of this business at a price of 11 billion pounds.

This time, United Energy Group’s quotation for National Grid’s natural gas business is 5 billion pounds, and although the two parties will continue to negotiate, their quotation this time will not be increased.

If it can really acquire the natural gas business of National Grid of England at this price, it will be an unexpected surprise for United Energy Group.

And if the other party insists not to sell, then United Energy Group can also turn around and participate in the acquisition of Unocal.