The dastardly Mr Deedes

Mega-rich ex-Tory treasurer Michael Spencer, who offloaded his £200m stake in TP Icap this week, presents an unsmiling face to the world. But I’m told he does occasionally enjoy a joke. After falling asleep following a hefty night on the sauce, underlings mischievously put the office clocks and his watch forward. Spencer, 61, saw the funny side, even after he turned up at Claridge’s some five hours early for a client lunch. The BBC’s appointment of Sir David Clementi, 67, as chairman heralds another banker in charge. Out-of-her-depth predecessor Rona Fairhead’s highly-paid directorship of HSBC caused trouble when the bank became submerged in a litany of scandals. Clementi currently sits on the board of investment firm Ruffer, but no banana skins there, I’m assured. The firm’s founder and chairman Jonathan Ruffer, 65, is described as ‘a committed evangelical Christian’ who plans to give away most of his £380m fortune. Re Clementi, I notice that he served as a trustee of the Royal Opera House during the same period BBC director general Tony Hall was the chief executive. Piccolo Mondo is the expression I believe they use in operaland. City grandee James Hambro, 67, scion of the famous banking dynasty, announces the engagement of his blonde daughter, Lucy. Aspiring restaurateur Lucy, 30, hopes to inherit Wiltons, favoured trough-spot for captains of industry, which great-grandfather Olaf Hambro bought in 1942. It is said that when Olaf discovered the St James’s restaurant while at the bar, he breezily requested the sale price be added to his bill. A charming – albeit unlikely – tale which bears repetition. Claptrap of the week comes from Professor Klaus Schwab, founder of next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, who says of the annual jamboree: ‘The uniqueness of the forum’s collaborative multi-stakeholder efforts consists in integrating multiple initiatives into a systems-level approach – always with a mission to improve the state of the world.’ What utter twaddle. FYI, if you think Professor Schwab, 78, sounds sinister give him a Google. Perfectly bald head with cruel, rimless specs, he’d make a passable Bond villain. Have you any gossip for our City diary? Email: mrdeedes@dailymail.co.uk