LONDON - The British minister charged with boosting international trade post-Brexit has slammed the country's businesses as being too "fat and lazy" to capitalise on the opportunity, the Times newspaper reported Saturday. "We have become too lazy, and too fat on our successes in previous generations," he added, saying executive were more interested in "playing golf" than striking deals. The trade minister warned that the arduous task of negotiating trade deals with international partners in the wake of Brexit would be a waste of time "if we don't have the exporters to fill those markets". Fox had already told Johnson that the Foreign Office should not interfere with trade issues, and on Thursday criticised the "Foreign Office view of the world" that focussed on diplomacy rather than business. "It is hard to see why the government's trade minister is attacking British business when he is supposed to be promoting the UK as a great place to do business," he said.

Source: Bangkok Post September 10, 2016 08:48 UTC