BUSINESS LUMINARIES TOAST THEIR SUCCESS
IT’S one thing to see the chancellor of the exchequer give up an entire evening to sit through a business awards ceremony, but quite another when he manages to have the audience in stitches during his speech as well.
That’s right, folks: it seems that 18 months of surviving on a few hours sleep a night in the financial meltdown has not daunted Alistair Darling’s spirits, if his performance at last night’s National Business Awards at the Grosvenor House hotel was anything to go by.
Stepping up to the stage in his sleek dinner jacket, Darling retorted of the Coutts award for large-cap business of the year : “Well, I’m very pleased that one of the awards tonight is being sponsored by one of my banks…”
Cue titters from the 1,000 gathered guests, who had no idea there was more where that came from. Moving on to the subject of rapidly-evolving technology, Darling began to speak of last April’s Budget.
“The very day after the Budget, I was struck by how fast news can travel,” he said. “I had a text from my daughter, who was on her gap year at the time… and it simply said: ‘Hey Dad, is it true you’ve wrecked the economy?’”
CONFIDENCE BOOST
While we’re on the subject of Darling and “his” banks, one of the luminaries picking up gongs last night was none other than Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Philip Hampton, who won the award for a decade of excellence in business.
He chatted to The Capitalist about the news that rocked the banking sector last week, when RBS announced revised terms for its participation in the government’s asset protection scheme and the forced divestment of some of its prized assets.
“We did have a tough week last week,” Hampton admitted. “But the thing you’ve got to remember is this: that banks are long-lived institutions. They do take knocks, and they do come back…”
Those few minor RBS shareholders still out there take heart: someone, at least, has still got an iota of confidence in the bank.
HAIRY BUSINESS
Over to the man providing the funding for the grand occasion (well, a sizeable chunk of it, at least): Tom Alexander, the chief executive of headline sponsor Orange.
Quite apart from waxing lyrical about the first day of sales for Orange’s iPhone, Alexander – who The Capitalist has previously reported is quite the heartthrob among the firm’s female staffers – was also chatting about his famous beard.
“I shaved it all off when I joined Orange but it’s now back,” he said. “There was a poll in our internal magazine which voted for it to come back but the real reason is that I went for a break at my house in France and my wife and kids asked me to grow it again – that, along with pure laziness!”
At least the five extra minutes of work time every day mean the company’s getting their money’s worth.
ALL WRAPPED UP
Other business types collecting awards included ASOS chief executive Nick Robertson for mid-cap business of the year; Inmarsat boss Andrew Sukawaty for large-cap business of the year; Sarah Murray, top dog at personal tracking device firm Buddi, for entrepreneur of the year; and Co-op chief executive Peter Marks, who was presented with the Orange leader of the year award.
The evening must have proved a nice break for Marks, mind, who’s busy training for a charity run with a difference – later this month, he’ll be pounding five miles around the Manchester City stadium with 800 colleagues, all dressed as Santa.
“Goodness knows how I’ll be able to run,” he laughed.
“I’ve got the hat, the heavy boots, the full works…”
That’ll be one for the family photo album, then…