Lis Truss is continuing her rule of appointing trade advisors she knows will annoy all the right people, as a swathe of free market think tankers have been appointed to the government’s refreshed Strategic Trade Advisory Group (STAG), including the ASI’s Matt Kilcoyne, the IEA’s Mark Littlewood and the CPS’s Robert Colvile. The former being one of the 21 new members, the latter two comprising half the body’s new experts…

STAG is a “forum for strategic discussion between government and industry experts, with members representing the views of businesses & workers from across the UK” including non-wonks such as the CBI’s director-general, the FSB’s chairman and the deputy general secretary of the TUC. Guido hopes his think tank friends are prepared for weeks of daily questions from Kay Burley about their appointments…

The new membership list in full:

• Ranil Jayawardena, Trade Minister
• Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General
• Mike Cherry, FSB National Chairman
• Paul Nowak, TUC Deputy General Secretary
• Nick Coburn, Managing Director of Ulster Carpets
• Marc Shrimpling, Osborne Clarke Partner
• Andy Richardson, Head of Corporate Affairs at Volac
• Liz Cameron, CEO Scot Chambers
• Emma Ormond, Head of Government Affairs Primark
• Matt Kilcoyne, ASI Deputy Director
• Prof. Julian Beer, Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce President
• Scott Steedman, BSI Director of Standards
• Sue Davies, Head of Consumer Protection and Food Policy Which
• Dirk Willem te Velde, ODI Director of International Economic Development
• Nick von Westenholz, NFU Director of Brexit and International Trade
• Julian David, CEO UK Tech
• Bina Mehta, KPMG Partner
• Denise Valin Alvarez, Burberry DIrector Global Trade Compliance
• Michael Gidney, CEO Fair Trade Foundation
• Philip Bouverat, JCB Director
• Shaun Spiers, Green Alliance UK Executive Director

Plus four experts:

• Adam Marshall, Director British Chamber of Commerce
• Robert Colvile, CPS Director
• Mark Littlewood, IEA Director General
• Mark Abrams, Director Trade Finance Global