Tuesday, Feb 10, 2004
What the Butler said
Most observers expected Lord Butler to go to ground after being appointed to examine the intelligence (but not political) failures that led to war with Iraq.
Much surprise - and not a little excitement - then, when the former head of the civil service kept a commitment to speak at the London School of Economics on Tuesday night.
The student-run Schapiro Government Club, which booked Butler, 66, as part of a series on cabinet government some time ago, couldn't believe its luck.
Ever the mandarin, the master of University College, Oxford, stuck diligently to his brief, despite the swelled attendance of more than 100. "When I accepted this invitation it was before I became briefly notorious," he noted.
"I'm not going to mention the word intelligence . . . and I'm not going to give away any secrets."
He did give one away, saying his office "was an exact reproduction of Sir Humphrey's [in Yes, Minister] - or I should say Sir Humphrey's was an exact reproduction of mine." But then we could have guessed that.
It was Sir Humphrey, of course, who ruled that one should never set up an inquiry without knowing the result.
No mates
Sainsbury's spinners on Tuesday squashed talk of cronyism at the struggling supermarket as they tried to appease the City over Sir Ian Prosser's appointment as deputy chairman.
Prosser and Sir Peter Davis, the chief executive set to become chairman, the job Prosser will succeed him in, were not friends, just business grandees whose paths had crossed occasionally.
"They have never had dinner together and their wives don't know each other," said one close to them. "They were on the Boots board together for a couple of years. But this is not a case of mates appointing mates."
While Sainsbury insists it did painstaking "due diligence" on Prosser, Prosser also took soundings before saying yes to a job many regard as a poisoned chalice.
Apparently, he talked to David Webster, the outgoing Safeway chairman, a veteran of the cut-throat supermarket sector, who succeeded him as chairman of InterContinental Hotels.
"David advised him not to touch it with a bargepole," said Observer's man with the shopping trolley. "But obviously he didn't listen."
Morris dancing
Now the two great evils of the 20th century, fascism and communism, have been defeated, President Bill Clinton's former pollster Dick Morris is setting his sights on what he considers the third: bureaucratism.
Morris's chosen weapon for the campaign is the UK Independence party, whose leader Roger Knapman he met by chance on a Mediterranean cruise last summer.
Morris believes the anti-Europeans can claim 20 per cent of the vote in June's European elections with the simple slogan: "What's No in English? UKIP." "The elections will be seen as the high-water mark of European integration," he tells Observer on a trip to London.
It's not just the EU he's against. Seemingly any acronym will do: the WTO, the IMF, even Nato.
Morris is, though, a staunch advocate of the war on terrorism. So what does he make of UKIP MEP Nigel Farage's claim that he "could understand the reasons behind" recent letter-bomb attacks on his colleagues? "Letter-bombers should go to jail." Was the remark a smart electoral move? "Next question please."
Morris, and UKIP's Labour-voting PR adviser Max Clifford, clearly have their work cut out.
Just deserts
The Prince of Wales, after a gruelling tour taking tea with squaddies, "Axis of Evil" leaders and earthquake survivors in the Gulf, is taking time out in the Saudi Arabian desert for what his aides call "contemplation".
Not many plants to talk to out there. But Charles likes arid environments too (no, not a reference to Buckingham Palace). He enjoyed roaming the Kalahari with his late mentor Laurens van der Post. This time his companions include members of the Saudi royal family. The name Parker Bowles is absent from the guest list. No Camilla, but probably a fair few camels.
Courting Davies
Now for Observer's Gavyn Davies job-of-the-week. The Bank of England is looking for a "non-exec chairman" of its court, the committee of the great and the good that advises it. The Treasury is looking for five directors and, although four incumbents could stay on, Sir David Cooksey's time is up.
The chairman of Advent Venture Partners is obliged to stand down after three three-year terms.
The successful candidate will need the experience and City know-how to keep in line the likes of HSBC's Sir John Bond, former MPC member DeAnne Julius and the TUC's Brendan Barber, if they stay put. And as the Treasury starts muttering about the need to raise interest rates, who better than the ex-Beeb boss to stick up for the Bank's independence?
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