The dastardly Mr Deedes

Ructions at Goldman Sachs where outgoing chief executive Lloyd Blankfein’s new office irritates some of the bank’s New York staff. It’s claimed the palatial berth, where bearded Lloyd will roost during his new advisory role, is costing upwards of £350,000. Goldman insists the figure is less than £75,000 but either way it’s at odds with a recent expenses crackdown. One banker moans he had a claim rejected for a piece of fruit. Not a desperately happy ship, by all accounts. Barclays boss Jes Staley met with the Duke of York this week at Buckingham Palace, an opportunity no doubt for Jes to garner Andrew’s extensive business insight. The pair have a mutual friend in former investment banker and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who lobbied unsuccessfully for Jes to be made Barclays’s chief back in 2012 after Bob Diamond got canned. The job instead went to Antony Jenkins, dismissed by Epstein, not entirely groundlessly, as ‘an internal dweeb’. In-the-pink hedgie Crispin Odey remains scornful of David Cameron’s premiership, telling Financial News: ‘Once you met David, you realised he was going to do absolutely nothing. He was so unbrave.’ Will Dave bother to retaliate in his long overdue memoirs? They’re now rivalling the 55-year wait for Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird sequel, albeit without the anticipation. Debenhams’s retail chief Steven Cook yesterday appeared alongside his new menswear head Andrew Lepp, who warned journalists to expect an improvement at the ailing department store’s shelves in the coming months. Cook interjected: ‘Months? Month! Or you’re fired.’ He was joking of course. Or least we must assume. Outré Mr Cook has a shaved head, a Rasputin beard and that menacing look of a man who delights in strangling poultry. Comcast boss Brian Roberts is rumoured to be dropping by Sky’s headquarters today following his £30bn acquisition of the broadcaster. Certain pinko outlets have claimed the sprawling, West London estate is known as ‘Skyberia’. Oddly, nobody I know ever calls it that. But making the Murdoch Empire sound cold and horrid is compulsory among the liberal media. mrdeedes@dailymail.co.uk