The dastardly Mr Deedes
Why is bland Blackrock squillionaire Larry Fink jetting over for Theresa May’s dinner she’s hosting for Donald Trump at Blenheim Palace on Thursday? A former member of Trump’s disbanded business council, New York-based Fink can presumably get face time with the president without having to cross the Atlantic. Perhaps he should dispatch instead his £650,000-a-year emissaire George Osborne, whose mutual disregard for the PM would give an increasingly fraught-looking evening added piquancy. Ruddy- cheeked fund manager Richard Buxton announces Old Mutual Global Investors is to be renamed Merian. The rebrand is in honour of Maria Sibylla Merian, a 17th century German scientist noted for her studies on caterpillars. Says cerebral Buxton, 54: ‘We believe Merian’s pioneering achievements, willingness to challenge the status quo and sheer strength of character truly symbolise our ethos and approach to doing business.’ If he says so. Plans to oust Talktalk’s executive chairman Sir Charles Dunstone at next week’s AGM come at an inconvenient time for the Bunterish entrepreneur. Usually around this time of year the keen seadog, 53, is preparing for Cowes week, where he’s competed. He spent four years and millions of pounds restoring the gorgeous motor yacht Shemara, once owned by property tycoon Harry Hyman. It’s currently available to charter for a trifling £300,000 a-week. Farnborough Airshow organisers have wisely cancelled their pre-event drinks on Wednesday in light of England’s World Cup semi-final showdown with Croatia. A spokesman laments: ‘I know there are some non-football fans among us, but I fear only a handful and we’d be perched on lonely bar stools surrounded by trays of canapés and resentful waiters.’ Despite the World Cup excitement and gorgeous weather it wasn’t a sparkling weekend for former Stobart chief Andrew Tinkler. Not only did Tinkler, 54, fail to oust the group’s chairman Iain Ferguson at Friday’s AGM, but seconds after his reinstatement to the board he was sacked again. To cap it all off, his horse Chingachgook was pipped by a length at Nottingham races on Saturday.