The former most senior aide to Boris Johnson conducting business in Dublin 2023

A meeting with Irish Distillers was held during the time when the former head of communications for Boris Johnson was in Ireland. Following his departure from 10 Downing Street in September of last year, Guto Harri became a member of the board of directors of Hydro Industries, a water technology firm that has locations in Swansea, London, and the Middle East.

On its website, Hydro describes the process through which it creates customised water systems as being “guided by proprietary software.” One bottle of whiskey might require as much as six liters of water, so it is easy to understand why something like this could be of interest to distillers.

Harri informs me the following about his interactions with Irish Distillers: “We are in talks, and we are confident that we can deploy state-of-the-art technology that will enable them to make more whiskey while meeting the most stringent environmental standards on wastewater.”

We arrived with Dai Pickering, a former captain of the Welsh rugby team who is now Hydro’s chairman, and Brigadier Rick Libbey, a former commander of the British army in Wales who is now Hydro’s chief executive officer. We had a wonderful experience, were enamored with the company, and support their efforts to reduce their environmental impact.

According to Irish Distillers, the company did, in fact, have a meeting with Hydro back in November of last year. This meeting was organized by a third party. Hydro, on the other hand, is not currently participating in any active tender process, nor has the company ever been solicited to submit a bid as part of a tendering procedure.