Two men who’ve been at the heart of the political world – former Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell and cabinet minister Rory Stewart discuss the influence of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV
The Influence of Aga Khan
“I have never seen anywhere in the world, including Bill Gates, anybody in international development demonstrate such kind of imagination, creativity, flexibility on bringing stuff together. He believed in enabling environment for business but he was also somebody who would say a country’s culture is just as important as its mineral resources and its water for development. So he will be deeply missed! “
Extract from the Podcast Episode 371 at time marker 22:37 – The Influence of Aga Khan
Minister Rory Stewart: The Aga Khan has just died at age 88 and the Aga Khan is the head of the Ismaili Community. He was a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Famously, one of the world’s richest family in the world.
He was both an extraordinary leader in international development but also a head of state without having a set geographical nation.
I got to know him probably 25 years ago and he was a really extraordinary entrepreneur … he was definitely somebody who was a great skier and I think he skied in the Olympics and had race horses.
But what he really did was care about international development and it was really impressive – a sign of what you can do, and what I would love to see is some of these American mega billionaires do with their money – because he did both pure development and he also did development impact investing.
So he spent about five and a half billion dollars a year. So to give you an example, in Afghanistan, he would be doing cultural restoration so they did incredible work restoring Babur’s Garden for example, but he also had a hotel – best hotel in Kabul where I was staying last time we did a podcast – the Serena hotel.
He would also invest in really good basic health care and clinics particularly in remote rural areas, he would provide support on banking and micro-finance, he ran airlines in Africa, he had big nurses training colleges going and because he was able to draw on the Ismaili community, there was a lot of local expertise, it was done incredibly professionally often largely with local staff with very few international staff. I have never seen anywhere in the world, including Bill Gates, anybody in international development demonstrate such kind of imagination, creativity, flexibility on bringing stuff together. He believed in enabling environment for business but he was also somebody who would say a country’s culture is just as important as its mineral resources and its water for development. So he will be deeply missed!
Alastair Campbell: I don’t recall ever meeting him but I did go to his museum once. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto … you would love it. Its full of Islamic art and it’s a beautiful, beautiful building …
About: The Rest Is Politics
Two men who’ve been at the heart of the political world – former Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell and cabinet minister Rory Stewart – join forces from across the political divide. The Rest Is Politics lifts the lid on the secrets of Westminster, offering an insider’s view on politics at home and abroad, while bringing back the lost art of disagreeing agreeably.
The Rt Hon Rory Stewart OBE was Secretary of State for International Development from 1 May 2019 to 24 July 2019. He was previously Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice from January 2018 to May 2019. Rory was previously joint Minister of State for the Department for International Development and Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from June 2017 to January 2018. He was Minister of State at the Department for International Development from 17 July 2016. He was elected the Conservative MP for Penrith and The Border in May 2010.
Alastair John Campbell, a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist, who is known for his political roles during Tony Blair’s leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair’s spokesman and campaign director in opposition (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary, and as the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesperson (1997–2000). He then became Downing Street’s director of communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003).
Research, Translation, Insight & Perspective by A. Maherali
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- The Rest Is Politics | YouTube Podcast Episode 371
- The Rest Is Politics | Podcast Episode 371Question Time
- HH AKIV embedded image source: daily Mail via Reuters | The Aga Khan IV: Spiritual leader, philanthropist and one of the world’s richest men passes away at 88 in Lisbon
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