The dastardly Mr. Deedes
■ Businessman Greg Tufnell, the latest mooted saviour for BHS, is a retailer of some distinction. His CV includes senior posts at Burton and Marchpole. A bald and imposing figure with a henchman’s build, contemporaries say Tufnell, 53, is an astute numbers man. Cut from a slightly different cloth, I suspect, to his colourful younger brother, England cricketer-turned broadcaster, Phil, 50. Thrice-married Tufnell minor is not known for his grasp of fiscal matters. Interviewing magisterial ex-Bank of England Governor Lord (Mervyn) King on Test Match Special, raffish ‘Tuffers’ enquired: ‘You couldn’t lend us a few quid could you, mate?’
■ Blackstone banker and high-flying bachelor John Studzinski delivers a lecture at Liverpool John Moores University next week entitled ‘Making Money do Good Things’. Impeccably-mannered ‘Studs’ Studzinski, 60, a long-standing friend of flamboyant ex-BP chief Lord Browne, possesses a social conscience rare among self-centred city types. He regularly visits homeless shelters and helps prepare bacon butties for downtrodden indigents.
■ Pedestrian Marks and Spencer boss Steve Rowe, 48, was asked during its results presentation yesterday how he thought a Brexit might affect the retailer. Turning nervously to his no-nonsense chief financial officer, Helen Weir, he enquired: ‘Would you like to answer that?’ Weir: ‘No. You go and I’ll back you up.’ Sounds to me like matronly Helen, 51, wears the trousers over at M&S towers.
■ Canaccord Security’s legendary bond guru, Rik Edwards, hosts his retirement bash tonight. Unable to attend is millionaire stockbroker and racehorse magnate, Andy Stewart, with whom Edwards set up Collins Stewart in 1991. As an apology, he’s sent his old pal a bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1991. Says Stewart, 65: ‘I have great memories of Rik, but one I remember vividly was when a young Philip Green came to see me with Rik about some shares in his firm Amber Day. Rik said to me after the meeting “Andy, he’s a wrong ’un.”’ Adds Stewart mischievously: ‘I remind Philip of this regularly.’
■ Mayfair restaurant Sofra – lunchtime habitués include local hedge fund wonks and property spivs – has entered the referendum debate by sporting prominent ‘Vote to Leave’ stickers in its windows. Surprising, as the bijou trough-spot is owned by gregarious Turkish millionaire, Huseyin Ozer, 67. Does the prospect of Turkey joining the EU fill him with the same dread as the rest of us?