The dastardly Mr Deedes
Drama over Germany yesterday where EasyJet’s Mr Whippy- haired chief executive Johan Lundgren, 51, was accompanying journalists on a flight to Berlin. A passenger was restrained after attempting to smoke in the lavatories. Witnesses say when cabin staff escorted him back to his seat, a bottle of vodka was discovered on his person. The high-spirited ruffian was last seen being frogmarched through the terminal by polizei. His fate remains unknown, but a period of self-reflection in the airport drunk tank was a distinct possibility. Was Deutsche Bank’s swoop for Goldman Sachs’s suave European chief Richard Gnodde, 56, as a replacement for droopy-faced chief John Cryan, 57, a tad ambitious? Gnodde’s massive £13.4m pay is surely way beyond their reach, for starters. He and elegant wife Kara are also heavy hitters on the London charity circuit, which they’d be unlikely to swap for boring old Frankfurt. Most pertinently, who’d drop Goldman for dead duck Deutsche? Is there no end to Financial Times editor Lionel Barber’s grandiosity? He’s spent almost a year as acting interim chairman of the Tate, charged with finding someone to take the role full time. But with the brazenness of an increasingly dotty Roman emperor, he’s decided to confer the illustrious position on himself. Since he’ll be seeking large donations from wealthy business figures, he’s going to be waddling through a conflict- of-interest minefield. But fearless Lionel, 62, informs underlings: ‘I believe I can do both jobs.’ An acquaintance whispers: ‘Lionel’s pomposity is now almost unbearable.’ Spotted in the audience of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s speech on Brexit. Melrose’s perma-tanned vice-chairman David Roper, 67. Light relief, perhaps, from the bloody boardroom battle over GKN? Re GKN, its contribution to the war effort was to construct 800 Spitfires. The firm’s heroic late chairman, Sir Barrie Heath, flew one during the Battle of Britain, which his parents had donated to the RAF. When his squadron commander once criticised the way Heath landed, he responded: ‘This is my Spit and I’ll fly it any bloody way I like.’