Whitehall Yesterday

Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Romania, Bahrain, Lithuania, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Trinidad & Tobago, Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Panama, North Macedonia, Nigeria, Montenegro, Albania, Marshall Islands, Chile, Moldova, Greece, Somalia and Slovakia on the Strait of Hormuz.

Statement by the Foreign Ministers of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom on Israel's Death Penalty Bill.

Data on the number of migrants arriving in the UK in small boats and those who were prevented by French authorities from crossing the English Channel.

River Thames: current conditions updated for Sunday 8 March 2026. Change to Bray reach.

Ros Kerslake  CBE  has more than 20 years’ board level experience in the property and regeneration sectors, serving as chief executive, non-executive director and chair for a number of public and private sector organisations. Previously she was Chief Executive Officer of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, overseeing around £400 million per annum of project investment, alongside a major organisation transformation programme of the UK-wide body. Her earlier roles include Chief Executive of The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, leading urban regeneration across the UK, Chief Executive for Regen Co, Sandwell, and Director of Property at Network Rail. Ros is a trustee for the regeneration charity Reform and the University College of Estate Management. She chairs 2 charities, the Leeds Castle Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund. She is also on the board of Sanctuary Group. She was awarded a  CBE  in 2020 for services to British heritage and an  OBE  in 2016 for services to heritage. She is a qualified solicitor.

James joined UK Government Investments (formerly the Shareholder Executive) in March 2014. He has worked on a variety of corporate finance and governance projects, including government investments into industry and government asset sales. His governance work has included serving as the Shareholder appointed Non-Executive Director on the Board of Ordnance Survey Limited, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, and on the Board of BIS (Postal Services Act 2011) Company Limited, a holding company for certain real estate, private equity and high yield bond assets. Major government sales worked on include the 2 public equity offerings of Royal Mail shares that removed Royal Mail from public sector ownership and advising the Department for Transport on Network Rail’s sale of around 5,000 railway arches. Corporate finance projects have included advising the Department of Health and Social Care on transactions relating to the provision of indemnity cover for  GPs  and working with the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce on negotiating agreements with vaccine manufacturers to secure vaccines and manufacturing capacity as part of the UK’s response to COVID-19. In June 2021, James was awarded an  OBE  for his services to the Vaccine Taskforce in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Prior to joining  UKGI , James spent 10 years working in corporate finance, first on the sell side in investment banking and, immediately prior to joining  UKGI , on the buy side, at a hedge fund. He started his career at Bank of America, working in London and New York. James holds an Economics degree from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

Chris is Chair of Real Estate and a Senior Vice President at Federated Hermes Limited, as well as Chair of MEPC, a leading UK placemaking and regeneration developer. He has overseen major regeneration projects such as King’s Cross, Paradise Birmingham, NOMA Manchester, Wellington Place Leeds, Silverstone, and central Milton Keynes. Chris joined Federated Hermes in 2010 after establishing QIC’s European office and previously served as Head of European Property at HSBC. Earlier in his career at Prudential, he led the diversification of UK real estate investments into international markets. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, former senior non-executive director at NewRiver Retail Plc, member of the Bank of England Commercial Property Committee, and founding board member of INREV. A former President of the British Property Federation, Chris has actively worked with government to promote real estate’s role in economic growth. A Visiting Fellow at Henley Business School, he  holds a BSc (Hons) in Land Management from Reading University.

Currently Risk Director at Legal & General, Simon served as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for LGIM, the UK’s largest fund manager, and for the past 6 years as CRO of L&G Capital, overseeing housing and regeneration businesses. His remit included major housing areas such as L&G Modular Housing, Build-to-Rent, Affordable Housing, Cala Homes, Strategic Land, together with urban regeneration, clean energy, and venture businesses. He was a key member or advisor across all relevant boards, committees, and governance structures. Previously, Simon held senior leadership roles across multiple L&G business units, including MD L&G Retail Investments, MD L&G Bank and a fixed income fund manager. A Chartered Actuary with a Mathematics degree from Durham University, Simon has deep expertise in investment management, risk management, corporate finance, real estate and housing, and markets and economics.