The dastardly Mr Deedes

HSBC’s incoming chief executive John Flint, 49, will now spend about a third of the year in Hong Kong in his new role. Not that he’ll be slumming it out there if current boss Stuart Gulliver’s £246,000-a-year stipend for living arrangements is anything to go by. Incidentally, Flint’s London home is a £3m schloss in Regent’s Park which he purchased from ex-Royal Mail chairman, and City grande formaggio, Donald Brydon. Pimlico Plumbers’ Charlie Mullins, 64, is spitting feathers over reports eBay paid just £1.6m in corporation tax last year on top of its £1bn revenues – peanuts compared to the £5m Pimlico paid. He says: ‘The system urgently needs to be reformed to stop these blood-sucking vampire companies devastating our economy and leaving us without a pot to p*** in.’ Cor blimey Charlie’s worth over 100 large, but I take his point entirely. Royal Dutch Shell boss Ben van Beurden, 59, was asked this week what he made of international trade secretary Liam Fox, to which he responded diplomatically: ‘I don’t comment on people’s character.’ There’s a feeling Liam’s not well-liked by business leaders since accusing them of being ‘fat and lazy’ in an ill-judged speech last year. Not that the PM will sack him. She coquettishly revealed during a radio interview he was the Cabinet minister she’d most like to be stuck with on a desert island. Sir Richard Branson has invested in Hyperloop One, a train service aiming to transport passengers between London and Scotland in 45 minutes, which he says will be operational by 2021. Beardie previously vowed he’d be in space by 2009, so perhaps we should heed the promise with caution. Hedge fund tycoon turned wildlife photographer David Yarrow, 51, helped raise money for the MS Trust this week after one of his works fetched £37,000 at The October Club charity dinner. The event was started in 1987 by City veteran Andy Stewart, 66, founder of Cenkos and a prolific racehorse owner. Yarrow has enjoyed success with the fillies too – exes include Elizabeth Hurley and Anthea Turner.