ALEX BRUMMER: Sale of Royal Mail to Czech Sphinx must be stopped

The familiar red, Royal Mail pillar box at the corner of my street on the fringes of Richmond Park in South-West London features the cypher of Edward VII.

Across the country there are still postboxes from Queen Victoria’s reign, which carry the letters VR — which stands for Victoria Regina. Regina meaning queen in Latin.

Our postboxes are living memorials to the kings and queens of Great Britain who followed her — some 130 are marked with the cypher of Edward VIII, despite his short reign before his abdication. More than two thirds of them carry EIIR, for the late Queen Elizabeth.

In short, there can be few commercial institutions in the UK which are so redolent of our national history — and none at all that can trace their origins back to the moment in 1516, when Henry VIII knighted the first Master of the Posts, Sir Brian Tuke, who created the first formal postal network.

Daniel Kretinsky, right, at last year’s Europa Conference League final, which was won by West Ham, a club in which he owns a large stake

In the manner of other billionaires Kretinsky has an heiress girlfriend, 27-year-old fellow Czech Anna Kellnerova

Yet 508 years on, Royal Mail, one of the nation’s most venerable institutions, has never seemed more imperilled.

It is within weeks of being sold to a mysterious billionaire from Eastern Europe, icc world cup 2023 schedule Daniel Kretinsky, who cashes in on ‘dying industries’ — and is so enigmatic he is known as the Czech Sphinx. A man with an estimated worth of £6 billion, underpinned by investments in fossil fuels — which is why they also call him the Fossil Hyena, a soubriquet that is fully justified.

Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), has accepted a £3.6 billion offer from Kretinsky. If shareholders approve and he takes over, the firm will no longer be listed on the London Stock Exchange as it has been since its 2013 privatisation.

The hugely important company with a historical pedigree second to none will be taken private by a ruthless foreign owner and allowed to operate with a scandalous lack of scrutiny. Kretinsky, 48, has invested in trophy assets in Western Europe and, by doing so, adopted a veneer of respectability. In addition to the 27.5 per cent stake he has already acquired in IDS, he owns sizeable chunks of retail giant Sainsbury’s, French supermarket chain Casino and Elle magazine in Paris.

In the manner of other billionaires he has an heiress girlfriend, 27-year-old fellow Czech Anna Kellnerova. A champion showjumper, she is the daughter of the late Petr Kellner, who was the Czech Republic’s richest man until he died in a helicopter crash in 2021, aged 56.

Kretinsky’s enthusiasm for the beautiful game has led him to acquire the Czech football club Sparta Prague and a large stake in West Ham — both of which played last season in top-tier European competitions. He has a personal taste for luxury, too, owning a sumptuous Paris mansion and a £65 million residence in London.

Nothing wrong in any of that. But as to the Royal Mail takeover, I believe there has been a shocking lack of concern expressed by the authorities about Kretinsky’s labyrinthine commercial empire and some business associates.