Remarks to: World Traders Installation Dinner, Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, Wednesday, 23 October 2024 by The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli

Master, Wardens, Aldermen, Your Excellency, Sheriff, Fellow World Traders, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Welcome to Mansion House, and a very warm welcome to Room 101 – sorry, I mean Livery Company 101. Though tonight with all the ‘skåls’ the Egyptian Hall feels a bit like Valhalla and I fear everyone might burst out with a chorus from the Ride of the Valkyries.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to welcome my mother livery company to what has been the home of Lord Mayors since 1752, as is the Lady Mayoress, a Freeman Honoris Causa of this fine company. On behalf of Sheriff David Chalk, Miranda, and ourselves, our thanks to the World Traders for your generous hospitality and for not trashing our house. Because of your restraint I’m pleased to be able to wear the Thomas More ‘collar of S’s’ for my mother livery’s banquet.

As you know, a Lord Mayor spends most of his time sat upstairs reading, so my thanks too for providing sufficient reading material in the form of the two volumes of William Maitland’s history of London, published in 1775 and on display outside.

Our most enthusiastic congratulations to the new Master World Trader, Lars Andersen. Perhaps we could say you are a Master of All Trade and a Jack of none. Lars has been a great support to me. During my year as Master, he and Jenifer were instrumental – pun intended – in organising our Guinness World Record-breaking singalong with singers from 84 nations – making us the first Livery Company to achieve a world record – another record, right there. Elisabeth and I have learned to love Lars’s home country, Norway, as our daughter studied at Trondheim, as did his in the USA. To our many guests from Norway this evening – “Velkommen til London!”.

Our thanks to Past Master, Michael Larsen – you join a long line of successful Michaels, I mean Masters, who have led this Company. Your theme this year was the Space Trade, taking us to space and beyond. This year Lars is all about Made On Earth. Don’t worry about me, I am just taking the Mickey.

From Larsen to Lars, I am sure the World Traders will go from strength to strength. We wish you all the very best for the year ahead as you lead this greatest of modern livery companies.

Anyone who doubts that this is the greatest company should check out the carvings of livery companies at Bluewater Shopping Centre, in the appropriately named Guildhall section – where the World Traders sculpture is by far the biggest and most elaborate.

In the spirit of the David Bowie song “The Man Who Sold The World”, our catchphrase might be “hey buddy, want to buy a planet?”

You may have heard me say before that – if we wanted to sound more like other livery companies – we could have called ourselves the “worldmongers” or “globemongers”.

But we didn’t want to be like other livery companies. We are unique – just like everyone else.

Commerce and Honest Friendship for All

While other livery companies were founded to support a specific trade, ours was founded to support the value of free trade- to the City, to the economy, to humanity.

We are therefore the only livery company whose charter leads us to take a political position, as reflected in our slogan, “Commerce and honest friendship for all”, which – appropriately for me, as the first American-born Lord Mayor – comes from Thomas Jefferson.

As Lord Mayor, I am the elected head of the world’s oldest democratic workers’ and residents’ cooperative, the City of London Corporation – where elections have been held continuously for 14 centuries.

Throughout that 1400-year history, we have always been interested in four things:

• Security and defence – no one wants to invest in a warzone.
• The rule of law – with the principle that my word is my bond.
• The supply of talent and skills – which is why the Livery is so heavily invested in education and training.
• and crucially: Open markets and free trade.

Connect to Prosper

These are essential to the theme of this mayoralty: Connect to Prosper, celebrating the knowledge miles which flow through our Square Mile, the world’s coffee house. The birth, growth and spread of the coffee house is an essential ingredient in understanding the history of this City. Which reminds me, I once read a book about the origin of cappuccino, but it was all froth and no substance.

It was in the coffee houses of the Square Mile that City institutions such as Lloyd’s of London, the Baltic Exchane, and the Stock Exchange were born. I was recently advised to start investing heavily in penny stocks –
it just seemed to make a lot of cents.

It is the City’s openness – to trade, to talent, to ideas – which makes us the world’s coffee house – one built on liberal values. Three traditional ethical liberal values are individual rights, freedom of speech, and protection of property. To those three add three practical liberal values of limited government, free markets, and free trade. Those three practical values rely on what Adam Smith described as the most basic form of regulation: competition.

Which reminds me. How many World Traders does it take to change a lightbulb? None, Adam Smith’s invisible hand will do it.

To have competition, you need trade. As Screaming Lord Sutch once asked, “Why is there only one Monopolies Commission?”

World Trade

Here in the heart of one of the world’s great trading centres, we know that world trade could not be more important. The value of global trade is now equivalent to 62.5% of global GDP, a record high – up from around 25% back in 1970.

As C J Cherry wrote, “Trade isn’t about goods. Trade is about information. Goods sit in the warehouse until information moves them.” Trade is about exchange between people. Trade is about social interactions where people trade ideas and opinions as well as merchandise. Good commerce is a positive sum game.

Trade reaps economic benefits from specialisation and comparative advantage, creates prosperity, distributes success and wealth, and collectively enriches all of our societies and communities.

Trade is a force for good, and has lifted billions of people out of poverty in the past half century – trade is the principle which unites all members of this livery company.

We know that this Company will always be there to advocate, in this era of protectionism and fragmentation, for world improvement through trade. As Jack Ma put it, “when trade stops, war comes”.

All good things must come to an end – and I ask you all to consider joining our Grand Finale on 6 November. I am extremely proud to have served as the first World Trader Lord Mayor, but I know I shall not be the last.

Trade arrives in many forms. The Antiques Roadshow was in town. A man comes in dragging a huge metal box. “Where did you get this from?” asks the antiques expert. “Well,” says the man. “I found it up in the attic. It’s been there over 40 years. I think it’s a bit of a family heirloom. Should I get insurance?” “You definitely should,” says the expert. “This is your water tank”.

As a token of my enduring appreciation for the Worshipful Company of World Traders, I have some tokens to give out. 

For our Master, Lars… the measure of a leader is what they do with power. So, for you, these callipers.   

And for our great Clerk, Gaye Duffy, as you approach the end of your term, the traditional mayoral spoon – adorned with coffee beans to reflect the City’s status as the world’s coffee house – and the mayoral glass challenge coin – always useful whenever you are trading. You have been the life and soul of our community for a quarter of a century. While we know that Liz Garner, our incoming Clerk, will be fantastic, you are in our hearts forever [and on the front page of this blog!].

Thank you once again to the Company for your hospitality, your support for Elisabeth and me throughout our term in office, and all you do for this great city of world trade.

It has been a great year – I wouldn’t trade it for all the world.

Thank you.