The dastardly Mr Deedes
Embarrassment for amiable ex- John Lewis boss Andy Street in his bid to be Tory mayor of the West Midlands. He arranged an auction lot at this week’s Conservative Black and White ball, which offered a behindthe- scenes look at the next John Lewis Christmas advert. The winning bid was to go towards Street’s campaign. That was until John Lewis chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield learned of it and withdrew the lot yesterday, citing a policy of political impartiality. At least Theresa May is pulling out all the stops for Street. She plugged him again at PMQs.
With Sports Direct charmer Mike Ashley circling French Connection like a starved hyena, how’s the Connection’s modish boss Stephen Marks bearing up? Pretty good, I’d say. A source spotted Marks, 70, relaxing on Tuesday afternoon at West London’s Dukes Meadows golf club, spending a good two hours ironing out his swing.
News that L’Oreal is selling The Body Shop will delight founder Dame Anita Roddick’s spirited daughter Sam, who’s been dismayed by the French cosmetics giant’s ownership. Like her late mother, touslehaired Sam, 45, has a head for business, selling her erotic store Coco de Mer in 2011 for an estimated £2m. She also shares her pas- sion for the environment and insisted her boutique’s wooden sex toys were crafted only from naturally felled trees.
When it rains it pours in the Clinton household. Eaglevale Partners, the hedge fund co-founded by Bill and Hillary’s son-inlaw Marc Mezvinsky, has closed down. Shabby-looking Marc, 39, an ex-Goldman Sachs trader, hardly looked like a budding George Soros. One of his funds lost 90pc in two years after betting big on a Greek recovery.
Royal Dutch Shell gave journalists a packet containing two chocolates at its recent results presentation. One was a rich, smooth bonbon containing 70pc cocoa. The second had a gritty, chewy texture and was filled with salt and lapsang tea, giving it a foul-tasting flavour. The purpose was to demonstrate the benefit of using premium petrol in your car over regular. Making unsuspecting hacks gag in disgust, presumably, was merely a bonus.