Wednesday 12 April 2023

SNOWING FOR GOLD HOW BRITAIN CAME TO BE A TOP RUNNER FOR PARIS 2024 P19

DANKER DITCHED

CBI LOOKS TO TURN PAGE ON SCANDAL WITH OUSTER OF DIRECTOR GENERAL FORMER BOSS SAYS ACCUSATIONS AGAINST HIM HAVE BEEN ‘DISTORTED’ AND SAYS BODY WALKED BACK ON PROMISE TO LET HIM DEFEND HIMSELF

BODY APOLOGISES FOR ‘ORGANISATIONAL FAILINGS’ AND ANNOUNCES CULTURE REVIEW ALONGSIDE NEW CEO

TONY DANKER was dismissed as director general of the CBI yesterday as scandal continues to envelop Britain’s biggest business body.

The Northern Irish boss stepped aside in March after staff made allegations of workplace misconduct against him, triggering an internal investigation by the law firm Fox Williams.

That was followed by

BON APPETIT

LUCA HEAD CHEF CHAMBERS’ GUIDE TO LONDON P17

BREAKING UP ISN’T EASY EY split plan canned

after US pushback

BEN LUCAS

EY HAS ditched its plan to split its audit and consulting businesses following opposition from its US unit.

The firm’s global executive committee relayed the decision to partners in a note yesterday.

The Big Four firm had put its plan to separate its audit division from its consulting business, dubbed ‘Project Everest’, on hold following infighting over the future of the accounting firm’s tax division.

further allegations of sexual misconduct against other senior CBI staff, published last week, though Danker is not involved in any of those latter allegations nor was he director general at the time.

Yesterday, a statement from the CBI board said he was “dismissed with immediate effect following the independent investigation into specific complaints... against him.”

Danker, who at the time said he was “mortified” by the allegations, then hit back on Twitter.

“I was... shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed,” he wrote.

“Many of the allegations against me have been distorted, but I recognise that I unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable and I am truly sorry about that,” he continued.

Rain Newton-Smith, former CBI chief economist, will rejoin the CBI as director

general just a month after jumping ship for a senior role at Barclays.

The CBI will also launch an internal review of its culture.

Last night, there was no sign that the lobbying body would have a warmer welcome in Westminster, however. Both the government and the Labour party have paused their engagement with the group until the end of the formal investigation into the most recent allegations, still ongoing.

£ WHAT NEXT?: P2

£ OPINION: P16

“We have been informed that the US Executive Committee has decided not to move forward with the design of Project Everest. Given the strategic importance of the US member firm to Project Everest, we are stopping work on the project,” the committee said, according to a copy of the note provided to City A.M. by an EY spokesperson.

The decision to scrap the plan was first reported by the Financial Times.

However, the committee said it was still committed to the idea of breaking up the businesses in the future.

“The global executive remains committed to moving forward with creating two world-class organisations that further advance audit quality, independence and client choice,” they wrote.

Kroll’s Megan Greene to replace Silvana Tenreyro on Bank’s rate-setting committee

JACK BARNETT

MEGAN GREENE has been appointed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to the Bank of England’s interest ratesetting committee, replacing top dove Silvana Tenreyro from 5 July. Greene will join the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) from consultancy Kroll, where she

has been global chief economist and a regular columnist for the Financial Times.

The Treasury announced the decision yesterday, praising Greene for her “wide experience across financial markets and the real economy”, which “will bring valuable new expertise to the MPC”.

In a recent column in the pink

broadsheet, she used the Eagles song ‘Hotel California’ to describe quantitative easing –central banks’ printing money via bond purchases –as a measure which can be paused but ultimately never really taken off the table entirely.

“I’m honoured and thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the policy debate

at the Bank of England as an external member of the MPC. It will be a privilege and a challenge to help address some of the key monetary policy challenges of our time,”

Greene said yesterday.

Greene will be an external member of the MPC, meaning she can retain most of her existing duties.

She is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and a board member of the Academic Advisory Committee at the San Francisco Fed.

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

The respected Rain NewtonSmith will take the reins

Greene joins the MPC from Kroll

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

There is still a case for a collective voice, even if it isn’t the CBI

WHERE next for the CBI, then? The end of Tony Danker’s tenure at the top of the organisation felt inevitable from the moment last week’s allegations emerged. But the unceremonious and not uncontroversial ouster of the man in charge will not change the much bigger challenge for the organisation: persuading a whole host of corporate leaders that membership is worth the cash, and indeed, the potential

THE CITY VIEW

reputational risk. The body will, rightly or wrongly, have won a stay of execution with the removal of Danker. CBI members will have demanded the body move fast; that it has done. There remains a slight twinge of doubt that they may have in fact moved

too fast; Danker’s statement yesterday appears to suggest that he feels he’s been thrown under the bus without a proper process, in response to allegations of events under a previous regime. Certainly, the body’s former director general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn will also need to answer questions about “organisational failings” at the CBI and the need for a cultural reset if she is to retain her place in Britain’s mostrarefied boardrooms.

But again we come back to the question not of personnel but of value. Somewhat unfashionably, this newspaper believes there remains a very strong case for a true ‘voice of business’ –even if that necessity is derived from the reticence of British business leaders to speak out themselves.

Captured by HR orthodoxy and communications strategies dictated by a desperate desire not to offend anyone, too many of our brightest businesspeople have

‘MIND ME NUTS’ A red squirrel was this week helped out of a tight fix in Dortmund, Germany. The trapped animal was described as ‘uncooperative’

been rendered almost mute on the public stage. It isn’t their fault; the media, too, probably has something to do with it, jumping as we do on even the most vanilla of ‘controversial statements’. Whatever the reason, it is certainly the case that business leaders we speak to in private have rather more strident views than they would dare offer in public. Until we solve that problem, the collective voice will remain a valuable tool.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

SNP’S PARTY AUDITORS QUIT SIX MONTHS AGO, NEW LEADER REVEALS

The auditors to the pro-independence Scottish National Party resigned about six months ago and Scotland’s governing body is yet to appoint a replacement, raising fresh questions about its finances.

THE TIMES

JOE BIDEN PLEDGES TO ‘KEEP THE PEACE’ BEFORE NORTHERN IRELAND VISIT President Biden has said he wants to “keep the peace” as he prepares to visit Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.

THE GUARDIAN ELIZABETH HOLMES TO BEGIN 11-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE AT END OF MONTH Elizabeth Holmes must begin her more than 11-year prison sentence on 27 April after a federal judge denied the disgraced Theranos founder’s request to remain free while she appeals her conviction.

Recession clouds lift over UK jobs market as hiring improves

JACK BARNETT

RECESSION clouds are receding from the UK jobs market as companies gradually regain confidence about hiring workers following a batch of better than expected economic data since the turn of the year, new figures out today reveal.

Firms are dipping their toes back in the recruitment market, lured by household spending holding up better than expected amid the cost of living crisis, according to research by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The pair’s permanent placement index – which measures how rapidly businesses are taking on new full time

staff – hit 49.3 for the UK as a whole last month, a shade below the 50 point threshold that separates growth and contraction and up from 46.3 in February.

While the reading means businesses trimmed hiring for the sixth month in a row, it signals the “economy [is] performing better than was expected at the end of last year, and means it is still a good time to be looking for work, with hospitality, healthcare, accountancy and financial roles all powering ahead,” Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, said. However, uncertainty over whether Britain will eventually slip into recession this year, likely caused by a combination of the Bank of England’s

aggressive interest rate hikes to 4.25 per cent and higher living costs potentially chilling spending, means companies are more keen to take on temporary staff, which are easier to lay off amid an economic downturn to trim costs.

The REC and KPMG’s temp placement index scaled to 52.5, the highest in six months, with London firms leading the way with a score of 57.6. London’s permanent placement index, however, was the lowest in the UK at 40.2, deep in negative territory. A sustained uptick in hiring could compel Bank governor Andrew Bailey and his team of rate setters to opt for a twelfth consecutive rate increase next month if it keeps pay growth elevated.

during rescue efforts.

Firms are dipping their toes back in the recruitment market

IMF: UK economy to shrink by 0.3 per cent this year

JACK BARNETT

BRITAIN is steering toward the bottom of the G7 economic growth table this year and will toy with a recession for most of 2023, the world’s economic watchdog warned yesterday.

UK gross domestic product (GDP) is tipped to shrink 0.3 per cent in 2023, the weakest performance of any economy in the group of rich nations, which includes the US, Germany and France, among others, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

While the figure is a sharp upward revision from its previous forecast of a 0.6 per cent contraction, Britain’s economy is still trailing behind its competitors.

Germany is the only other country in the G7 that is forecast to suffer a contraction this year at minus 0.1 per cent.

The IMF reckons the US will grow 1.6 per cent, Canada 1.5 per cent, France and Italy 0.7 per cent and Japan 1.3 per cent.

“The slowdown is concentrated in advanced economies, especially the euro area and the United Kingdom,” the organisation’s economic counsellor PierreOlivier Gourinchas said in its latest World Economic Outlook.

Risks to financial stability rise but they won’t thwart inflation fight

CHRIS DORRELL

RISKS to financial stability have “increased rapidly” since October last year but they were unlikely to be big enough to distract central banks from fighting inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday.

pointed to a range of different threats to financial stability following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and wider turmoil that gripped the banking sector last month.

up in vulnerabilities since the global financial crisis.”

UK growth is poised to rebound next year, reaching one per cent, however that rate of acceleration is slower than the country’s pre-pandemic average and still among the lowest in the G7 for 2024.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “The IMF now say we are on the right track for economic growth.”

The UK did receive the biggest GDP upgrade of any rich nation.

IMF officials’ calculations chime with forecasts published recently by the Bank of England and Office for Budget Responsibility, both of which canned their recession projections.

UK economic activity has held up much stronger than first feared at the turn of the year, partly due to households using their Covid-19 savings to cushion the blow of the cost of living crisis and fund spending.

But family and business finances are being crushed by roaring inflation and the Bank of England’s attempts to tame it with the most aggressive interest rate hike campaign since the 1980s. Prices have risen 10.4 per cent over the last year and inflation has stayed in the double digits since September.

The global economic watchdog’s biannual financial stability report

BP snaps up 40 per cent stake in massive UK carbon capture project

NICHOLAS EARL

BP HAS snapped up a hefty stake in a major upcoming carbon capture project from Harbour Energy, bringing more focus to the nascent method of decarbonisation.

It has acquired a 40 per cent holding in the Viking CCS project, which aims to meet up to a third of the UK’s annual target of capturing 30m tonnes of carbon dioxide by the end of the decade. The fee for the deal remains

undisclosed, but it is understood BP will operate the project with Harbour.

The energy giant is aiming to meet its investment targets in the UK, and has committed to spending £18bn on domestic energy projects over the current decade as it reaps bumper profits from oil and gas trading.

BP’s UK chief Louise Kingham said the move “demonstrates BP’s commitment to backing Britain through substantial investment and helping the country achieve its net zero goals”.

The IMF said the events were “powerful reminders of the challenges posed by the interaction between tighter monetary and financial conditions and the build

However, the report also said that government intervention in the US and Europe in the wake of banking collapses has helped to stem the uncertainty, and it was hopeful that central banks could continue their battle against inflation without causing widespread financial instability.

The Viking CSS project’s gas fields could store up to 300m tonnes of captured CO2

New trust plots £100m float in boost for London

CHARLIE CONCHIE

A NEW INVESTMENT trust yesterday revealed plans for a £100m float on the London Stock Exchange in a boost to the capital’s markets after a barren start to the year.

Ashoka Whiteoak Emerging Markets

Trust announced yesterday that it would list a new investment vehicle that to back quoted firms that provide exposure to global emerging markets.

In a statement, Prashant Khemka, founder of the firm’s investment adviser White Oak Capital Partners, said he was “excited by the prospect of listing Ashoka Whiteoak Emerging Markets on the London Stock Exchange”. “This easily accessible vehicle will provide investors exposure to Emerging Markets and the opportunity to generate significant alpha through exposure to a portfolio of great companies at relatively attractive valuations,” he said.

“Our well-resourced investment

team has the credentials and expertise that place us in a unique position to achieve strong capital growth for shareholders. We look forward to building a new listed entity in London,” he continued.

The firm said it intends to issue 100m ordinary shares at £1 a piece and would publish its investment prospectus next week.

White Oak is an emerging markets specialist and manages $5.5bn (£4.4bn) in assets. The investment trust will be its second after the launch of Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust.

The news will also deliver a boost to the City after a barren period in which London’s markets have been starved of initial public offerings (IPOs).

Indeed, London managed only five IPOs in the first quarter of 2023, raising just £81m, an 80 per cent fall compared to the same period last year when there were 19 IPOs that raised £400m.

‘A dramatic tragedy’: Swiss assess CS deal

CHRIS DORRELL

SWISS authorities yesterday defended the state-brokered merger of the country’s two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, in an emergency parliamentary session called to scrutinise the decision.

Swiss President Alain Berset argued “the Federal Council was obliged to intervene to maintain stability both in

London flat sales beat pre-pandemic levels as property market stabilises

LAURA MCGUIRE

SALES of London flats are up nearly 25 per cent on pre-pandemic levels, according to new data, in a sign that the City’s property market is starting to stabilise.

In March, flat sales in London were 23 per cent higher than in March 2019 – the first time monthly sales have been higher than in 2019

since September, according to new figures from property website Rightmove.

Overall property sales in London, including flats and homes, were 11 per cent higher than in March 2019.

“We have noticed a significant upswing in buyer demand for apartments of all sizes,” Robert Sturges, central London area director at Chestertons, said.

“This demand for flats is driven by professionals who wish to shorten their commute, parents who invest for their children but also overseas buyers who are taking advantage of favourable currency exchange rates,” Sturges added.

However, across the rest of the UK, property sales remain subdued –18 per cent lower compared to this time last year.

Switzerland and internationally and to protect the economy”.

The emergency session, only the third in over 20 years, cannot annul the deal as it has already been confirmed by a group of senior MPs.

The emergency session is expected to go on for a few days and lawmakers are expected to raise concerns. Fears concern possible job cuts and the impact to the Swiss economy of

having one bank which is more than twice the size of its entire economy. The deal has proven unpopular in Switzerland. MP Peter Hegglin, although he did accept the necessity of the takeover, said the saga highlighted Credit Suisse’s failure to learn from the 2008 crisis. “Like in a dramatic tragedy, the managers destroyed values and made themselves rich in the process,” he said.

Demand for flats is being driven by wealthy parents, commuters and overseas buyers

MJ Hudson confirms deal to become cash shell with Apex £40m takeover

JAMES SILVER

THE EMBATTLED asset management consultancy MJ Hudson has agreed a deal to offload a whole host of divisions to Apex Group, a global financial services powerhouse. The deal, which is dependent on shareholder and regulatory approval, will cost the latter £40m.

MJ Hudson has been in the headlines for months after suspending its chief financial officer and informing markets it no longer

had confidence in its accounts.

Over the weekend, City A.M. reported that the finance boss, Peter Connell, has now left the business.

It is understood that around 50 per cent of jobs in the ‘central services’ function of the business, mainly clerical and IT staff, could now be at risk.

Shareholders are being asked to approve the deal despite the fact the firm said it was “highly unlikely” there would be a “substantial, or any” payout off the back of the sale, with

Heathrow marks post-pandemic passenger high

TAYLOR

GUY

LONDON’s Heathrow airport reported over 6.2m passengers travelled through Britain’s biggest airport in March, a rise of more than a million monthly users since February.

The West London hub also recorded its busiest day since 2019, with 221,606 flying through on 31 March, despite it being the first day of Unite’s industrial action, with Heathrow security guards walking out for 10 days over the Easter break in a dispute over pay. The five-week walkout by passport officials, which began last Monday, also failed to stem Brits’ desire to get some sun.

In the period between January and March, Heathrow handled a total of nearly 17m passengers, with the most popular destinations being Europe and North America.

The surge comes amid the airline industries’ continued bounce-back from the Covid-19 pandemic, with the recent reopening of China helping to further boost the industry.

Earlier this year, aircraft leasing company Avolon predicted that the industry would be back to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2023, while Heathrow marked its first day exceeding preCovid passenger numbers in February.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “I am very proud of the way that colleagues have pulled together to ensure passengers got away smoothly on their Easter holidays. Our security team has done a brilliant job, supported by our entire

MJ Hudson owing around £34m to its senior lender as well as other creditors.

Investors have been warned that if the sale is not passed, “it is the view of the board that there is a significant risk that the company’s creditors would take action to put the whole or parts of the group into an insolvency process, as the board does not believe that there is any alternative funding available or purchaser for the assets on equal or better terms.”

SKY HIGH Walkie Talkie garden welcomes ten millionth visitor

management team who have been ‘here to help’ in the terminals.

“Many passengers have told me that we exceeded their expectations.”

It comes as Heathrow’s Terminal 5 also marked its 15-year anniversary last month. It has hosted almost 400m passengers during that period.

Despite the surge in numbers, Heathrow had a 9.1 per cent drop in cargo travelling through the airport in March.

Newmont tables £15.7bn final offer for rival Aussie gold miner Newcrest

NICHOLAS EARL

US GOLD miner Newmont has ramped up its bid for Aussie rival Newcrest with a £15.7bn ($19.5bn) final offer.

The Denver-headquartered miner first approached Newcrest with a £13.7bn offer back in February, but it was rejected by Newcrest’s board.

The new mega bid has been labelled

the “best and final” by Newmont.

The world’s largest gold miner is aiming to create a global powerhouse for the precious metal.

Newcrest said it had given Newmont access to its books following the sweetened all-share bid, raising expectations a deal can be pushed through and backed by shareholders.

“I think this offer strikes a better

balance. We are positively disposed to the Newcrest-Newmont merger,” Simon Mawhinney, chief investment officer at Newcrest’s top shareholder Allan Gray Australia, told Reuters. The bid comes amid a wider push for consolidation in the commodities sector following BHP’s buyout of OZ Minerals and Glencore’s failed bid for Canada’s Teck Resources.

The US gold miner is aiming to create a global powerhouse for the precious metal

The asset management consultancy has been bruised and battered in recent months

THE SKY Garden, a City oasis located at the top of the iconic Walkie Talkie at 20 Fenchurch Street, has now welcomed over 10m visitors since it first opened in January 2015. The rooftop garden, which is free to visit and also boasts a restaurant and bar, on average attracts around 3,000 people a day.

The West London hub has continued its recovery despite strikes

Glencore offers cash option in bid to woo Teck

GLENCORE yesterday proposed introducing a cash component to its $22.5bn (£18.1bn) bid for Teck Resources and urged its board to delay an impending vote on a restructuring.

Vancouver-based Teck responded by saying the revised offer was “largely unchanged”, after on Monday it repeated its rejection of the bid, which includes a plan to simultaneously spin off the companies’ thermal and steel-making coal businesses and rebrand the remaining group as Glenteck.

Teck said its board will “review and evaluate” the offer. Its chief executive Jonathan Price had told shareholders on Monday that a restructuring in which Teck would spin off its steel-making coal unit to focus on copper and other industrial metals was the only viable option.

Glencore is now proposing that Teck

STRIKE! Hollywood Bowl sales jump as Brits turn to cheap thrills

BOWLING operator Hollywood Bowl yesterday lifted its outlook for the rest of the year after a 11 per cent increase in revenue. Brits turning to cheap thrills amid a cost of living crisis helped boost the firm, with group revenue in the six months to March reaching £111.1m, up 10.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

shareholders receive 24 per cent of the combined metals group and up to $8.2bn in cash for those who may not want exposure to thermal coal, which is the most polluting fossil fuel.

“The revised proposal does not provide an increase in the overall value to be received by Teck shareholders or appear to address material risks previously raised,” Teck said.

Material risks would include exposing its shareholders to a big thermal coal business, Teck said on 3 April when the offer was made public.

Canada’s Keevil family, which has so far supported the rejection of Glencore’s bid, controls Teck through its dominant ownership of ‘A’ class shares.

“This revised proposal from Glencore helps, but we continue to expect a bump as we believe the premium offered so far is not high enough to get strong support from Teck’s Class B shareholders,” said Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina.

The London-listed firm, which also owns mini golf brand Puttstars, plans to roll out more sites across the UK this year.

Retail sector pins hopes on coronation boost

LAURA MCGUIRE

SHOPPERS splashed out on Mother’s Day gifts in March, helping to slightly boost retail sales, but damp weather and soaring inflation has left the sector holding out for the King’s Coronation in May to see a “larger uptick” in sales.

According to data by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), consumers

scrambling for last minute gifts for Mother’s Day helped prop retail sales up 5.1 per cent last month, against an increase of 3.1 per cent in March 2022.

Despite this, an unusually wet March drove DIY and fashion sales down as shoppers were hesitant to invest in new spring wardrobes.

“While the wettest March in over forty years dampened sales growth for fashion, gardening and DIY products,

Mother’s Day brightened up sales for the month,” Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC said.

The sector will now be hoping for a boost in May, with the King’s coronation expected to drive sales.

“The King’s coronations celebration could give retail sales a much-needed shot in the arm amid the cost of living crisis,” Myron Jobson, analyst at Interactive Investor, said.

CLARA DENINA AND MUHAMMED HUSAIN

UK pledges nationwide 5G rollout by 2030

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

MINISTERS are set to invest millions in boosting the UK’s connectivity via a nationwide rollout of 5G.

All populated areas of the country will be covered by ‘standalone’ 5G, which is also called ‘5G-plus’ and is not reliant on existing 4G technology. The government has pledged this will be achieved by 2030.

Cineworld exit plan a box office flop

SHARES in Cineworld tanked over 37 per cent yesterday after the embattled cinema chain revealed that it would be forced to wipe out shareholders as part of its plan to exit bankruptcy.

The London-listed firm, which filed for bankruptcy in the US last autumn, said yesterday that it had filed a “plan of reorganisation” with the US Bankruptcy Court in Texas.

The plan aims to help the beleaguered

company reduce its $4.53bn (£3.68bn) debt pile in order to exit Chapter 11 insolvency during the first half of this year.

“In light of the level of existing debt that is proposed to be released under the plan, the proposed restructuring does not provide for any recovery for holders of Cineworld’s existing equity interests,” Cineworld said in a stock market announcement yesterday. Shares tanked on the news, closing down 37.83 per cent at 1.09p yesterday –

an all-time low for the cinema chain Cineworld, like other operators, has failed to claw back pandemic-era losses amid a cost of living crisis tightening consumer budgets along with higher competition from streamers.

Last week, the chain revealed that it would be taken over by its creditors in a bid to restructure its debts and keep the struggling chain going. The deal includes providing $1.46bn in new debt financing and a new share offering of $800m, which will give its

Tupperware seeks emergency cash as iconic brand warns it is close to collapse

LAURA MCGUIRE

TUPPERWARE, the US maker of reusable food storage containers, has warned that it will go bust unless it can quickly improve its finances.

Shares in the business tanked nearly 50 per cent on Monday after it revealed there was “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue.

The 77-year-old brand said that it

was “actively engaging” with financial advisors to secure emergency funds.

“Tupperware has embarked on a journey to turn around our operations and today marks a critical step in addressing our capital and liquidity position,” said Miguel Fernandez, president and chief executive officer of Tupperware Brands.

“The company is doing everything in its power to mitigate the impacts of

recent events, and we are taking immediate action to seek additional financing and address our financial position,” he added.

It is also exploring whether it can sell any property and cut jobs.

Tupperware grew in popularity in the 1950s when housewives would host “Tupperware parties”. Neil Saunders, retail analyst at Globaldata, said the brand had now “lost its edge”.

creditors a 100 per cent stake in the company.

Cineworld, which has over 100 cinema houses in the UK and also owns cinema chain Picturehouse, was also forced to drop the sale process in its US, UK and Ireland businesses last week after it failed to find a buyer.

“Shareholders in Cineworld have had a tough time with this stock, which is down around 95 per cent over the last year,” Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said.

Technology secretary Michelle Donelan yesterday unveiled a £40m 5G innovation fund to encourage business take-up, plus a further £100m in funding for 6G research.

Another £8m will be spent on connecting up to 35,000 remote homes and firms via satellite link.

Donelan said the package would “turbocharge” the UK’s progress in becoming a “tech superpower.”

Julian David, CEO of TechUK, welcomed the new funding, adding that wireless connectivity would play a key role in achieving “the UK’s ambitions for productivity, growth, prosperity and net zero goals”.

The government said 77 per cent of the UK population currently has basic 5G access. The UK is due to hit 75 per cent gigabit broadband coverage this month, up from just six per cent in 2019.

The food storage container brand rose to become a household name in the 1950s

LAURA MCGUIRE

Bitcoin price roars past $30,000 as investors bet on end to rate hikes

CHARLIE CONCHIE

BITCOIN yesterday roared past the $30,000 dollar mark for the first time since June last year as investors pour back into crypto in a bet on the end of rising interest rates.

The price of the flagship cryptocurrency has now surged more than 70 per cent since the start of the year after a dismal 2022 in which over a trillion dollars was wiped from the value of the wider crypto market. Sharp rate hikes and soaring

inflation caused investors to scramble for steadier ground last year triggering a series of high profile crypto implosions, including of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange. However, investors have poured back into Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two most valuable cryptocurrencies, in anticipation of an end to rising interest rates. Ethereum has risen 60 per cent since the start of 2023.

Mirva Anttila, director of digital assets research at Wisdomtree, predicted the market was on the cusp

Klarna and Zilch sound the alarm on BNPL rules

CONCHIE

CHARLIE

KLARNA and Zilch have sounded the alarm over the scope of planned buynow pay-later (BNPL) rules yesterday as ministers close a key consultation before bringing the sector into regulation later this year.

The government has been probing for industry input on proposed rules after having first set out plans to clamp down on BNPL firms last year.

The measures set to come into force include firmer credit checks on borrowers and an expansion of the remit of the City’s complaints watchdog, the Financial Ombudsman Service, to allow shoppers to dispute claims.

However, Klarna and Zilch have said that while they back the government’s planned rules, some sections lean on outdated legislation leaving consumers still able to bypass borrowing restrictions with dangerous loopholes.

“We are concerned with the suggestion to copy and paste Consumer Credit Act (CCA) rules on credit agreements, which are outdated and don’t protect or inform consumers,” a Klarna spokesperson told City A.M. yesterday.

“Quite the opposite, they leave consumers confused and, ironically, push

them towards expensive and higherrisk forms of credit.”

Ministers have committed to a wider revamp of the CCA but Klarna said yesterday the BNPL rules had given ministers a “golden opportunity to be bold and create new rules to give consumers the right information”.

Philip Belamant, the boss of Zilch, also told City A.M. that the planned rules did not close out a potentially dangerous “loan stacking” loophole where firms could borrow to pay off BNPL debts.

“This is where customers are allowed to pay off BNPL debts (or any debt, for that matter) with another credit card,” Belamant said. “All this does is shift the debt around, often moving it to a card, which carries a significantly higher interest rate than an interest-free BNPL agreement.”

Ministers are aiming to lay secondary legislation for the sector by midway through this year before the Financial Conduct Authority is then able to consult on a framework for firmer regulation. The timelines of the next steps could mean that rules for the sector do not come into force until 2024.

The Treasury did not respond to a request for comment.

of a fourth “major bull market” as investors flood back into the space.

“Momentum has steadily built for bitcoin as investors digest macroeconomic shifts in data,” said Simon Peters, a digital asset analyst at eToro “The next one markets will be watching is US inflation, which is due today. If inflation continues to recede we could see some consolidation above $30,000.”

The recent bump still leaves Bitcoin well shy of an all time high of $68,790, recorded in late 2021.

POD FIT FOR A KING The London Eye gets in the spirit of it all

Money market funds see 5,998 per cent jump in net flows in first quarter

CHRIS DORRELL

MONEY market funds and short-term money market products have seen a staggering 5,988 per cent increase in net flows in the first quarter, according to Hargreaves Lansdown. Money market funds invest in highquality, short-term debt, and they generally offer slightly higher returns

than bank deposits. As interest rates have risen at their fastest pace in 40 years, money market funds have become more attractive to many investors than bank deposits.

Hargreaves Lansdown’s Danny Cox said the inflow reflected “the nervousness of committing to stock market funds and shares right now.”

The data shows that the UK is

experiencing the same kind of inflows into money market funds as the US since the vast majority of Hargreaves Lansdown’s clients are UK based. Barclays predicted $1.5trn (£1.2trn) would pour into mutual funds in the remainder of 2023. This could potentially pose a risk to banks as much of the funds are likely to come from deposits.

Bitcoin passes $30,000 mark for the first time since June 2022

The firm behind the London Eye has announced plans to refit one of its ‘pods’ as a coronation studio for the week of King Charles’s celebrations. Guests will be able to take their seat in their very own throne whilst perusing the London skyline from 135m above the River Thames. Hoteliers and retailers are hoping for a bumper start to May, with two bank holidays as well as the coronation itself.

CEO

Geiser.

Sorrell’s

THE NOTE BOOK

We must cultivate the next cohort of entrepreneurs

THEREare over five million small businesses in Britain. They make up an astonishing 99 per cent of total businesses in the country.

So why do we continue to send young people into the world with no preparation to claim a stake in this entrepreneur’s economy?

Our education system is not providing the next generation with the entrepreneurial skill set required to futureproof the UK economy.

The truth is that if the UK wants to remain a powerhouse of entrepreneurship then more must be done to nurture this innovative spirit and to be accepting of failure.

A decade ago, young people had their heads and hearts set on grad-schemes at large multinational companies with big names. Today, the tide is turning. We are keenly observing an uptick in shunning a role at ‘International plc’ in favour of being a ‘self-starter’.

Rather than being trapped within the confines of Ofsted

results, UCAS statements and exam criteria built to assess the retention of information, the education system must break free from the rhetoric that teaches repetition and assimilation as the sole route to success.

While universities are forming hubs to incubate and support start-ups, these days young people are setting up businesses from their bedroom.

Entrepreneurship is often left off the agenda. The failure of schools to develop the communication and critical thinking skills vital in nurturing young people into successful leaders, is a dumbfounding omission.

We must instead aspire to build a system that prioritises creativity and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit.

Our education system is attempting to build a nation of exam-takers –but at its heart, Britain is a nation of innovators and entrepreneurs. An education in the UK should reflect that.

Where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Andrew Wolfson, CEO of Pembroke Investment Managers

TIME TO DITCH THE DOOM AND GLOOM RHETORIC

Last week saw encouraging news about the pound climbing to an 11-month high. While we are not completely out of the woods yet, subsiding global supply-side challenges and a rebound in UK GDP are lending new confidence to the economy. The doom and gloom rhetoric that we have become so accustomed to is relentless and unhelpful.

Let us refocus on profitable, sensible business plans. There is a vast untapped opportunity to grow market sectors such as ethical fashion and wellness. Let us seize it.

£ The Multiple Sclerosis drug trial announced last week will come as a huge relief to sufferers up and down the country. But why did it have to take this long to get these drugs to reach the frontline of patient care?

HEALTHCARE STARTS AT HOME

For too long, our approach to healthcare has been reactionary and not preventative. We are focused on treating sick people but less concerned about maintaining their health in the first place. However, we are now seeing a host of bright young founders cultivating the next frontier of proactive healthcare. Thriva, the home blood testing service, and LYMA, the scientifically-backed nutraceutical business, are empowering Britons to take responsibility for their own health needs and outcomes. We must stop relying on the NHS to pick up the pieces once the damage is already done.

GCHQ: MI5 to appoint first female spy chief in its 100-year history

CITY A.M. REPORTER

A WOMAN will become the boss of GCHQ for the first time in its over 100year history when the current director steps down next month, foreign secretary James Cleverly announced.

Anne Keast-Butler, who is currently MI5’s deputy director-general, will take up the role in May when Sir Jeremy Fleming leaves after six years.

With an impressive 30 years working in national security, KeastButler helped launch Whitehall’s National Cyber Security Programme.

Before holding senior security service roles at MI5, she spent two years on secondment to GCHQ as head of counter-terrorism and serious organised crime.

“I am passionate about continuing to ensure that GCHQ is an

organisation where everyone can perform to their very best,” the incoming spy chief said. Cleverly praised the appointment: “Keast-Butler has an impressive track record at the heart of the UK’s national security network, helping to counter threats posed by terrorists and cyber-criminals. Her vast experience will help keep the British public safe.”

When diagnosed with such a debilitating illness, one should be given the option to take the risk of side effects in a drug trial if there is one in the pipeline. Delays for patients are caused by years of bureaucracy and that does not seem right to me. We did it with the Covid-19 vaccine. We must make it a priority get these critical drugs approved more swiftly.

IN DEFENCE OF CAPITALISM

Dr Rainer Zitelmann

“Gemeinwohl vor Eigenwohl” (“public interest before self-interest”). In a speech in November 1930, Adolf Hitler said: “In the entire sphere of economic life, in the whole of life itself, one will have to do away with the idea that the benefit of the individual is the essential thing and that the benefit of the whole is built on the benefit of the individual, i.e. that the benefit of the individual is what gives rise to the benefit of the whole in the first place. The reverse is true: the benefit of the totality determines the benefit of the individual... If this principle is not recognised, then a selfishness must inevitably set in and tear the community apart.”

THE BENEFITS OF SELFISHNESS

THEBRITISH economist Paul

Collier has put together a series of proposals on how capitalism should be ‘reformed’.

He criticises the “moral deficit” facing “modern capitalism” identifying Gordon Gekko’s iconic catchphrase from the 1987 film Wall Street as the maxim of modern capitalism: “greed is good”. He claims that capitalism is therefore in urgent need of an ethical correction.

In 2020, Collier co-wrote the book Greed is Dead with his British colleague John Kay, in which they paint a picture of a capitalism dominated by “market fundamentalism” and “individualism”.

“Markets are not seen as mechanisms for mutually beneficial exchange but places where people try to outsmart each other for their individual profit.”

With 21st century capitalism so out of kilter, Collier believes the solution is to restore the concept of “public interest” to the centre of economic life and require companies to align themselves with the “public interest” rather than solely with the pursuit of profit.

Collier wants citizens to play the role of ‘policemen’ who watch over companies to make sure they are acting in the public interest.

He isn’t proposing a state police force, but self-empowered activists, legitimised by no one, to spy on and monitor companies. “Every regulation can be subverted by clever box-ticking; every tax can be reduced by clever ac-

CAN GREED BE GOOD?

counting; every mandate can be fudged by motivated reasoning. The only defence against such actions is an all-seeing police force... This gentle policing role does not require everybody to be a part of it; there is a critical mass of participants above which the risks arising from corporate misconduct become too high to entertain.”

THE ALL-SEEING EYE?

Do we really need spies, informers and an “all-seeing police” to make capitalism “better”? Are greed and unbridled egoism really – and today more than ever – the driving forces of capitalism?

The self-interest of every human being is one, though certainly not the only, driver of every human action. But

this has nothing to do with a specific economic system. Totalitarian ideologies seek to diminish the ‘I’. They want nothing more than to subordinate it to the ‘we’, as demonstrated by two of the maxims of National Socialism: “Du bist nichts, dein Volk ist alles” (“you are nothing, your people are everything”) and

Adam Smith emphasised the benefits of selfishness, not primarily in terms of pure self-interest, but precisely because people need help from others all the time. However, he also highlighted the fact that noone can rely solely on the goodwill of others: “He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them... It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and we never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.”

Selfishness has always been a human trait. But in capitalism, it is restrained by the fact that only the entrepreneur who primarily focuses on the needs of customers can be successful. Empathy, not greed, is the basis of capitalism. Empathy is the ability to recognise and understand another person’s feelings and motives. And this is the most important quality of successful entrepreneurs. Let’s take Steve Jobs as an example. He invented products such as the iPhone because he understood better than others the needs and desires of people in modern society.

£ Rainer Zitelmann is a historian and sociologist. His book In Defence of Capitalism has just been published. www.in-defence-of-capitalism.com/

Wizz Air crowned the UK’s worst airline for flight delays, but will it matter?

NEWfigures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that Wizz Air performs the worst among the UK’s major airlines in terms of flight delays. Its average delay of 46 minutes and six seconds for 2022 was more than three times longer than its previous time in 2021 (also the worst for that particular year).

Beyond punctuality, Wizz Air is perceived negatively in several areas. With Index scores (which provide an indication of overall brand health), falling from -0.7 to -6.7 (averaging -6.0) between April 2022 and April 2023, it is significantly underperforming the sector, which saw a mild dip from 6.8 to 6.6 over the same period (averaging -0.2). So it’s hard to exclusively attribute Wizz Air’s underperformance to broader trends in aviation.

Looking at some other metrics,

Stephan Shakespeare

Wizz Air’s Impression scores – which measure good or bad sentiment– declined from -1.1 to -10.2 (-9.1). Though Quality scores might not be the most immediately important metric for a budget airline, they saw a comparable fall from -4.9 to -13.4 (averaging -8.1). Reputation scores – which measure whether the public would be proud or embarrassed to work for a particular brand – deteriorated from4.1 to -12.1 (averaging -8.0).

But will it make a difference? Wizz

Air came under fire last year for what the CAA deemed to be its “unacceptable behaviour” regarding customer complaints, and its CEO attracted negative headlines for comments telling staff who were taking time off for fatigue to “go the extra mile.” But Satisfaction scores barely moved from 1.8 to 1.3 (averaging -0.5), and the same goes for Consideration scores (which went from 7.3 to 7.4). The Current Customer metric actually saw a small improvement from 0.7 to 2.0 (averaging +1.3). Whether the public simply have lower expectations of budget travel operators – particularly in the wake of stories like last year’s P&O scandal – or whether these particular stories are yet to bruise the brand significantly is an open question.

Stephan Shakespeare is the co-founder and CEO of YouGov

WIZZ AIR’S BRAND HEALTH HAS BEEN LOSING ALTITUDE YouGov Brandindex Index scores: Average of Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend and Reputation scores (8 week moving average)

Wizz AirAirlines Average

In the seventh of an eight-week series, German historian and sociologist Dr Rainer Zitelmann takes apart the arguments of those who’d battle against free markets, bit by bit. This week, he takes on the idea that capitalism uniquely encourages greed and selfishness

CITY DASHBOARD

Glencore and Rio Tinto push London upwards despite IMF forecasts

LONDON’s FTSE 100 kicked off a shortened trading week in robust fashion yesterday, lifted by miners scaling higher despite the IMF warning the global economy is on course to suffer a sharp slowdown over the coming decade. The capital’s premier index jumped 0.57 per cent to 7,785.73 points; commodity giants like Glencore, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Antofagasta were all up more than three per cent.

The domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, climbed 0.85 per cent to 18,956.05 points.

A drop in economic activity would likely cool spending, weighing on demand for goods produced by London listed miners. IMF officials said they reckon the era of rock bottom interest

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com

rates will return in the near future to stimulate global GDP.

Analysts attributed the FTSE 100’s rise to a batch of stronger than expected economic data signalling households and businesses are in a much better shape than initially feared. Traders are gearing up for a busy week of flagship economic announcements.

The IMF set out new projections for global GDP today, raising UK growth by the greatest margin of any G7 member, although also putting the country at the bottom of the rich nation growth league.

US inflation numbers out today are anticipated to show the rate of price increases slowed again in the world’s largest economy.

New GDP estimates for February for the UK released on Wednesday are expected to show the economy squeezed out 0.1 per cent growth.

Oil and gas producing company Diversified Energy has shown “strong progress” towards meeting its targets of in-group methane emissions intensity reduction of 50 per cent by 2030. “This progress has been recognised with the company achieving a Gold Standard Pathway from the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership,” analysts at Peel Hunt said. As a result, analysts reiterated their 175p target price and rated it a buy.

Adjusted EPS for Mortgage Advice Bureau is being upgraded by three per cent for 2023 and two per cent for 2024, say Peel Hunt analysts. “Management continues to guide for progressive quarterly profit improvements in 2023 and the full-year performance will be weighted towards 2H,” they said. Analysts rated it a buy, predicting 1H23 profits will be similar to 2H22 at £7m.

THE LONG-TERM PICTURE ISN’T GOOD “A combination of falling productivity and an ageing population is expected to tame inflation but at the cost of constraining economic growth. The equivalent of someone being told they can no longer walk but at least they won’t fall over.”

RUSS MOULD, AJ BELL

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

If Labour want to win an election, they have to get used to going on the attack

Josh Williams

IT ISelection time, albeit only of the lesser and local variety, and Labour has gone for the jugular. Last week, the party published the first of a series of campaign adverts that take direct and personal aim at Rishi Sunak. The most controversial accuses the Prime Minister of believing those who sexually assault children should walk free.

Cue howls of outrage in a barrage of tweets. Labour, we were told, has lowered politics into the gutter. In response, it is worth bearing in mind that politics already operates down there a lot of the time, and there may be good reason for that.

Take just one past Presidential election, for instance. In it, a sitting President was accused of being in league with a foreign power. He responded by revealing the details of the inappropriate sexual liaisons of his challenger.

You might think this sounds rather like 2016 or 2020, and it does. But that’s only because if political history doesn’t repeat itself, it certainly rhymes. The year of this particular contest was 1800, and the two opponents were America’s second and third presidents.

First, Thomas Jefferson accused his predecessor of alliance to the most contemptible of all enemies: the Eng-

lish. Then, Samuel Adams responded by publicising Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. When Jefferson won, Adams left Washington before his successor’s inauguration. Even Donald Trump had the good grace to stay around for that.

Negative campaigning goes a long way back. Rubbishing the record or character of your opponent is what political communicators are supposed to do. The Conservatives won the 1979 election not on the back of the promise of Thatcherism, but rather under the banner of the exquisite, Saatchi & Saatchi-drafted attack line: “Labour

Isn’t Working.” The same firm came to the rescue again in 1992, blowing Labour’s hopes of victory away with “Labour’s Tax Bombshell”.

As politics has turned from an art to something like a science, researchers have been able to objectively examine whether negative campaigns like these actually work. A 2019 study was illuminating. Reviewing Senatorial elections in 2010 and 2012, the researchers compared the voting behaviour of those who saw political advertising – both negative and positive – against those who didn’t.

Positive election messaging, focused

on the virtues of a candidate and their policies, had no discernible effect on voting behaviour. Negative messages, on the other hand, most certainly did. They encouraged more people to vote, and they encouraged them to vote for the attacker and against the attacked.

But politics is only something like a science. Not all negative campaigns are alike, and neither is the context of every campaign. In 1997, the Conservatives launched another excellent Saatchi-designed poster, reading: “New Labour, New Danger”. The image was that of Tony Blair with the addition of a pair of gleaming, red eyes. The Con-

Our ailing productivity is workers’ payback to the greed of bankers after the 2008 crash

THE self-destruct mission led by the SNP has helped the Labour party to be seen as firm favourites to win the next election, quite a turn around from their 2019 fate. But were he in government, he would be grappling with exactly the same issue Rishi Sunak is now. Namely, how to raise the rate of growth of productivity in the UK. Productivity is what will drive economic growth and pull living standards back up. And it is economic growth which delivers the resources to pay for whatever goodies a political party chooses to serve up to the electorate.

Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor, has so far acted with commendable restraint by keeping spending commitments under tight check. Taxation is already very high so the scope for generating extra revenue by further increases is limited. Raising productivity, and through this the size of the economy, remains the key.

But since the 2008 financial crisis, growth in both productivity and the

Paul Ormerod

economy as a whole has slowed dramatically across the West. In the prepandemic decade 2010-19, growth in every economy has been less than its long-term average over the previous 150 years. There is no sure consensus as to why.

The one thing which is absolutely clear is that the reduction in GDP and productivity growth dates from the late 2000s, coinciding with the timing of the financial crisis. It is harder to show how exactly it was caused.

But there was at the time a huge amount of resentment about the way in which the banks and, perhaps more precisely, the bankers themselves were

bailed out. The ill-feeling still resonates to this day.

Much of the activity of those involved in financial markets in the run up to the crisis can be readily classified under the heading of what economists call “rent seeking”.

The word “rent” here does not mean what you pay on your apartment to live in it. The concept goes all the way back to Adam Smith, though the phrase was only coined in the late 20th century. Rent seeking means trying to increase your share of existing wealth without creating any new wealth.

The creation of exotic financial instruments, such as derivatives, which Warren Buffett once called ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’, seems to fit the bill. It is hard to produce firm evidence, but it is entirely possible that many workers elsewhere in the economy watched and learned from this.

It was not just bankers who seemed to be at it. In America the typical compensation of the CEO of a large company is now at least 300 times more than that

of the average worker. In the 1970s the ratio was only 30 to 1. Yet the performance of the economy hardly seemed to warrant such a dramatic widening of outcomes.

A reasonable message to take away from this is that you might try a bit of rent seeking of your own. Why bother to work quite as hard when your supposed betters were getting away with rent seeking on a massive scale?

The phenomenon of “quiet quitting” has gained traction since the pandemic, the practice of working slowly in a subtle protest against the dissatisfaction of work. But the seeds could easily have been sowed a decade earlier.

Restoring a sense of fairness, not of equality of outcomes but a feeling that the outcomes are fair, might be the key to solving the productivity puzzle. It is something which Rishi Sunak seems to be trying to do, but it is an area in which Labour is currently holding the cards.

£ Paul Ormerod is an author and economist at Volterra Partners LLP

servatives duly collapsed to a defeat that took them thirteen years to recover from.

So will Labour’s new advertisements work in the local elections next month, and at a general election due to follow a year or so after? There is good reason to believe that they could.

Two weeks ago, I co-authored Red Shift with my colleagues at Labour Together, exploring who the electorate in England and Wales is. Across the country, we found people feeling profoundly insecure. Their financial circumstances were often perilous, living in local communities that feel like they are in decline, and relying on public services that seem to be at the point of collapse.

If Labour is to win the next election, its first task is to tie this sense of malaise to the governing party. The Conservatives’ approval ratings are already perilously low, but it has been widely noted that Rishi Sunak’s are a touch higher. The first task for any intelligent campaigner is therefore to argue that the buck stops with the person with ultimate control: the Prime Minister.

In a beautiful speech, delivered in 2016, Michelle Obama told the Democratic National Convention how she suggested it responded to the negative campaign prosecuted by Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. “When they go low,” she said, “we go high.” The words may live on in the memory, but so should her party’s catastrophic defeat of 2016. Sometimes it pays to go low.

£ Josh Williams is Deputy Director of Labour Together

MISSING IN

Keir Starmer has said he stands by attack ads launched against Rishi Sunak

ACTION Yesterday kicked off 96 hours of junior doctors strikes, but apparently Steve Barclay and the rest of the Health Department had better things to do than expalin how they would get staff to get back to work.

A member of the BMA explained her side, Barclay was perhaps... on strike?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Talking shop with the UN

[Re: China’s undeclared information war with Taiwan is a warning from Beijing, April 3]

The writer Eliot Wilson has rightly concluded that the shockwave of China’s invasion of Taiwan would be global. The big question is whether the world will be able to prevent Xi Jinping, now China’s supreme dictator-in-chief, from using the Chinese army to fulfil his misplaced ambition of “national reunification” that inevitably will kill thousands of Taiwanese and Chinese soldiers and civilians.

We cannot rely on the United Nations to fulfil its stated purpose “to maintain international peace and security”. It is just a talking shop and has miserably failed to sanction Russia following

Putin’s reckless war on Ukraine. The global call for reforming the United Nations is increasing day by day. Only the US and Europe can stop China’s Xi from invading democratic Taiwan. Following the damage caused by Covid-19, China’s international standing has suffered and it fears Western economic sanctions that is having a devastating effect on Putin’s Russia. In the past the West has been too soft on China and allowed it to be misled by it's propaganda. In a December 2012 article, Joseph A. Bosco, former China country director in the Office of US Secretary of Defence, wrote, “Soft power toward neighbors and the West was useful when the People’s Republic was poor and weak—though back in 1950 China got away with invading Tibet…”. If the world had then stopped China’s invasion of Tibet, it would not be the global bully it is today.

Tsering Tashi

The CBI’s sole purpose as a go-between for business and government is now defunct

OVER the last two weeks, Britain’s largest trade body has been trading on very little.

Yesterday, Tony Danker was sacked as head of the Confederation of British Industry after a string of allegations of sexual misconduct.

But the problem is now much bigger than Danker himself: similar but separate allegations have been published, in which more than a dozen women claim to have been harassed or assaulted by senior figures at the CBI.

Let us be in no doubt: in reputational and cultural terms, these allegations, if proven, are hugely damaging and destructive. Taken collectively, they paint a picture of a positively antiquated atmosphere at the lobbying organisation which claims to speak for 190,000 businesses.

The most serious allegation is the one which perhaps packs most toxic stereotypes into the fewest words: one woman claims that in 2019 she was “raped by a senior colleague at a CBI summer boat party”, in the stiffly neutral words of the BBC. That is, as my former colleagues in public relations would say, not a good look.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: STOP SMOKING TO START VAPING

If Boris Johnson’s government was a fun sponge for putting calorie counts on menus, maybe Rishi Sunak will earn some credit for offering free vapes.

The government is launching a bid to get Britons to stop smoking by getting them to start vaping instead.

It’s a marked contrast from other governments which have moved to ban vaping products over fears they encourage children to take up nicotine. Juul, a popular vaping product, was banned in the US last year.

In Australia, people need a prescription to buy vaping products.

But Sunak’s government is betting they are better for you than cigarettes. A recent study from King’s College London found that smokers who switched would see “substantial reduction” in their exposure to toxic chemicals causing various kinds of cancer.

According to the ONS, 6.6 million people in the UK smokeroughly 13 per cent of the population in 2021.

These accusations are shocking and must be pursued to their fullest conclusion and as much justice as possible delivered for the victims. More broadly, however, it has raised genuinely existential questions about the CBI itself. Last week, the government suspended its dealings with the CBI—”paused” was the word being used in Whitehall—a grievous blow to its influence.

It might be that the CBI’s culture isn’t the only thing which is antiquated about the institution, but the nature of its dealings itself.

Relations with the government are what the CBI is for. It is a representative organisation for businesses of all sizes and in all sectors to promote the interests of its members in the formulation and development of public policy, and to provide intelligence and data for its members. It has been the mainstream face of British business for some time now, though it is not as venerable an institution as one might imagine. It was formed only in 1965, in the early days of Harold Wilson’s first government, when three smaller trade bodies came together to maximise their effectiveness.

Already the hare has been set run-

ning that the CBI has suffered a fatal injury. Twenty years ago, this might not have been the case, but in terms of image and public standing, the #MeToo movement changed everything. And if the CBI cannot get access to government, what is the point of it?

If the CBI is holed below the waterline, perhaps it is time to find the silver lining of opportunity in this dank, mucky cloud. In many ways, it is an old-fashioned organisation, created to work in an ecosystem which no longer exists. The CBI was born into a world of considerable government intervention in business, and a post-war economic model which was driven by the three principal actors of government, business and the trades unions.

In 1965, there were more than 10 million trades union members; today there are fewer than 6.5 million. The CBI was created less than two months before the government unveiled its National Plan, based on a belief that the government could coordinate the economy and supervise growth across sectors. And the size, distribution and specialisms of British business in 1965, when manufacturing was still substan-

tial and many industries were still in public ownership, are unrecognisable from today.

This might be the time to rethink the relationship between government and business. Greater transparency is a non-negotiable, given the poisonous air at large now. A new body would have to be more responsive to its whole membership, not just the high rollers and major employers, and should be flexible enough to understand and represent the diversity of the modern UK’s economy.

Its relationship with government may be less cosy, but it should be more open and honest, and founded on a shared acceptance of where the economy is now. The business and trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, has the air of a reformer about her, so let us see if she can engage with every enterprise which fuels our wealth and prosperity, and form a healthy, realistic interaction built on mutual respect. The CBI may be beyond saving, but the opportunity is still there.

£ Eliot Wilson is co-founder of Pivot Point and a columnist at City A.M.

Eliot Wilson

Tony Danker was sacked as the head of the CBI yesterday

As Emmanuel Macron struggles on all fronts, the last thing he wants is for Paris to cede more ground to London. But new stats show 59,000 French companies will go bust, compared to 28,500 UK ones, according to Allianz Trade

QUELLE SURPRISE Twice as many French firms will collapse to UK ones

MOTORING

BOOTING IT

All the car you will ever need.’

It’s a well-worn cliché, frequently used in the same sentence as ‘3 Series Touring’.

BMW’s upwardly-mobile estate car has been the answer to most motoring questions for decades. But now it has rushed into a phonebox, pulled on a pair of red underpants and emerged as the M3 Touring. Is this pumped-up Wonder Wagon all the car you will ever need? Or the answer to a question nobody asked?

The original ‘E30’ M3 debuted in 1986, and BMW has waited six generations to launch a Touring derivative. However, there are good reasons for that. Despite their cult status among enthusiasts, both versions of the larger M5 Touring sold in tiny numbers. And these days, the majority of buyers prefer supersized SUVs to traditional estate cars. More fool them.

The M3 Touring is only available in Competition xDrive spec, which means 510hp from a 3.0-litre turbocharged six, an eight-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive. It weighs 85kg more than the four-door saloon and performance is almost identical: 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds and 155mph flat-out – or 174mph if you specify the M Sport Pro Package.

Speaking of options, the Touring starts from £80,550, but the price of my car swelled to £103,135 after all the extras – from carbon-ceramic brakes (£7,995) to retro ‘50th anniversary’ M badges (£300) – had been totted up. That’s an alarming amount of money for a 3 Series.

It does look special, though. Muscular wheelarches wrap around the staggered alloy rims (19 inches at the front, 20s at the rear) for a lowered, millimetre-perfect stance. Like the Man of Steel

PRICE: £80,550

POWER: 510HP

0-62MPH: 3.6SECS

TOP SPEED: 174MPH

FUEL ECONOMY: 27.4MPG

CO2 EMISSIONS: 232G/KM

himself, the M3 bulges in all the right places. There’s no avoiding BMW’s awful ‘beaver teeth’ grille, of course, but choosing a darker paint colour does minimise its impact.

Inside, you’ll find a 14.9-inch widescreen media system, Harman/Kardon hi-fi, heated electric seats and natty seatbelts with BMW M stripes. It all feels suitably plush and premium, although the lack of physical switches means you are endlessly jabbing the touchscreen

and delving into sub-menus. As for the gaudy driver display… what happened to the no-nonsense clarity BMW was famed for?

This being an estate, I should also mention luggage space. A 500-litre boot isn’t class-leading, but the M3 is very practical for a performance car. It also retains the 3 Series Touring’s useful split tailgate, so you can simply lift the glass to drop in lighter loads.

The best compliment I can pay the Touring is that it drives exactly like an M3. Brilliantly, in other words. Its steering is meaty and precise, damping is superb and the chassis feels beautifully balanced. Find a long, flowing bend (or perhaps a quiet roundabout) and you sense the front end bite, adjusting your angle of attack with the throttle before xDrive traction slingshots you onwards. You soon forget this is an estate car. In a world of lightning-quick EVs, the

BMW’s stats no longer seem so spectacular. From behind the wheel, though, it’s still a ferociously fast car. The biglunged S58 engine pulls with explosive energy from low revs all the way to a 7,600rpm redline. Its straight-six snarl sounds pleasingly authentic, too, despite being augmented by the stereo speakers. The only chink in the M3’s armour is a conventional automatic transmission, which isn’t as quick or crisp as a dual-clutch ’box. You’ll rarely notice the difference, though.

Worth the 37-year wait? You bet. Despite a few flaws, the M3 Touring makes a strong case for being the ultimate family wagon. Its price precludes it from being a car I could regularly recommend, and besides, nobody really needs a car like this. But that doesn’t stop me wanting one.

Tim Pitt writes for motoringresearch.com

GORDON MURRAY'S T.33 SPIDER IS A £1.8M HYPERCAR HEAD-RUSH

If you have a 617hp Cosworth V12 that screams to 11,100rpm, you'll want to enjoy every last rev in glorious, unfettered surround-sound. In other words, you'll want a T.33 Spider from Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA). Well, join the queue.

Based on the existing T.33 coupe, the Spider's carbon composite bodywork is unique from the A-pillar backwards. Two liftout roof panels can be stowed in the front luggage compartment – or you can leave the roof in place and simply retract the rear window.

The Spider will be hand-built at GMA's new facility in Windlesham, Surrey, with first deliveries due in summer 2025. Production is limited to 100 cars, priced at £1.8 million a

piece. The open-air T.33 weighs 1,108kg – just 18kg more than the equivalent coupe. A painstaking focus on weight reduction involved shaving 'single grams from every component', yet with 'no compromises to structural integrity'.

Inside, a 'defiantly analogue rev counter' is flanked by a pair of small screens for climate control and infotainment. A stubby, balltopped gearlever takes centre-stage, controlling the six-speed manual 'box. The switchgear and pedals are machined from aluminium alloy.

Two carbon fibre bucket seats are trimmed in leather and Alcantara, and positioned beneath a huge ram air scoop that feeds the hungry V12. A pair of stowage compartments

are hidden in the rear haunches, increasing total luggage capacity to 295 litres – on par with a small hatchback.

The heart of the T.33 Spider, is, of course, that almighty engine, with its 12 cylinders, four throttle bodies, 24 injectors and superbike-style redline. Maximum power of 617hp arrives at a heady 10,250rpm. No performance figures are quoted, but reckon on 0-62mph in around three seconds and a top speed north of 200mph. Best of all, the T.33 Spider will be available in very eye-catching colours, 'acknowledging Gordon’s love for a tropical shirt'. It seems even Murray, a famously obsessive and serious engineer, isn't afraid to have a bit of fun.

The new BMW M3 Touring is a family-sized estate car with Porschebaiting performance. Tim Pitt gets behind the wheel.

PLAT DU JOUR: COOKING PASTAIO’S SPRING RECIPE OF WILD GARLIC PESTO GNOCCHI

potatoes all over with a fork. Place in the oven for 60-90 minutes until they feel soft inside. Leave until they’re cool enough to handle.

garlic season, says Stevie Parle

Wild garlic season runs throughout spring when the leaves can be found covering huge swathes of UK woodlands where you can smell its distinctive fresh, garlicky fragrance from far away. It makes the most wonderful pesto, though try to avoid over-blitzing as it can easily become too strong. It’s certainly worth foraging for your own, but many greengrocers also stock it.

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 4)

£ 40g blanched hazelnuts

£ 280g wild garlic, washed

£ 40ml extra virgin-olive oil

£ 100g grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve

£ 800g floury potatoes, scrubbed

£ 200g ‘00’ flour, plus extra to dust

£ 2 small eggs, beaten

£ A few gratings of nutmeg

METHOD

£ Make the gnocchi first. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C/gas 4 and prick the

£ Meanwhile, to make the pesto, wilt three quarters of the wild garlic by blanching very briefly in boiling water, then drain and set aside to cool. Place the hazelnuts in a small food processor or blender and blitz until you have breadcrumbs. Add the wild garlic and pulse-blitz until it’s finely chopped. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream, then the Parmesan. Transfer to a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and put to one side until you’re ready to eat.

£ Scoop the flesh out of the potato and mash until completely smooth. Transfer the flour to a clean work surface and grate over a little nutmeg and a generous amount of seasoning. Pile up the flour, then make a well in the centre and add the potato and beaten eggs. Bring everything together into a ball with your fingers until everything’s incorporated. You’ll have soft dough that shouldn’t stick to your fingers.

£ On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into four pieces. Keeping everything except the piece you’re working on covered with a tea towel, roll each piece into 2cm-thick sausages. Slice each sausage into 3cm pieces. You can then either roll each piece on a gnocchi board or press

with the prong of a fork. Make sure they’re generously dusted with flour so they don’t stick together. Allow to rest for 20 minutes.

£ When you’re ready to eat, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the gnocchi for 2-3 minutes

until they float to the surface. Cook in two batches so they cook evenly, transferring them to a warm mixing bowl once they’re cooked. Spoon over the pesto, and carefully stir to coat them. Add a few splashes of pasta cooking water to loosen the pesto to a

nice consistency. Transfer to plates and grate over a little extra Parmesan before serving.

£ Stevie Parle is a restaurateur, writer and food entrepreneur. To book a table at Pastaio go to pastaio.co.uk

ASK THE EXPERT: LONDON DONE PROPERLY

Michelin starred Luca head chef Robert Chambers on where he likes to eat in the capital on his day off

ACME

FIRE CULT

I love Acme Fire Cult for a laid-back dinner with friends. They take vegetables to the next level, cooking them over fire to bring out the wonderful flavour of the produce. They also use local, sustainable suppliers for their meat and fish, so you can be sure it's great quality. The coal-roast celeriac with mushroom kelp XO is one of my favourite dishes, and all of their beers (which are brewed by their partner 40FT Brewery) are great.

YAUATCHA

One of the restaurants that really stands out to me is Yauatcha. Their venison puffs are beautiful and very addictive; the flakiness of the pastry works so well with the sweetness and gameiness of the venison. I also go mad for their prawn and beancurd cheung fun. With the crisp beancurd and the soft, minced prawn running through, you get these incredible flavour sensations of sweetness, saltiness, crunchiness and softness all coming together and creating the most incredible moment.

LUCA

When it comes to morning pastries, Toad Bakery is insane. They're all beautiful, with perfect lamination creating delicious, flaky layers. I particularly love their croissants and the pain au chocolat.

Obviously I'm biased, but I eat some of our signature dishes –like the parmesan fries, scallops and pork sausage ragù –over and over again, and they never get old. Even now, they put the same smile on my face and give me the same satisfaction as they did when I first created them.

GYMKHANA

One of my other favourites is Gymkhana. The lamb chops there are amazing, seasoned beautifully with lots of goodquality spices and cooked beautifully. Gymkhana get their lamb from Warrens Butchers and the meat is so tasty. I really believe that Warrens have some of the best lamb in the country, and you can definitely taste the difference.

TOAD BAKERY

This pasta dish is the perfect way to celebrate wild

THE PUNTER

Wally Pyrah previews today’s card from Happy Valley

Phoenix Light may have the Universe at his feet this time

BETTORS who left Sha Tin full of the joys of spring on Sunday will be hoping for a similar scenario when the city venue, Happy Valley, hosts a mid-week nine-race programme in Hong Kong.

With eight favourites and two second favourites obliging on the 11-race card at Sha Tin, you can guarantee there wouldn’t have been too many Easter eggs left in the racecourse gift shops when the action finished.

Popular jockeys Zac Purton and Hugh Bowman both completed fourtimers, and life must have felt good for the majority of racing fans, who are certain to be out in force supporting

their heroes again when racing resumes in the city.

Bowman jumped above Silvestre De Sousa into third place in the Jockeys’ Championship table and, with a string of fancied rides, looks capable of further adding to his already impressive seasonal tally of 43 wins.

Last-start winner Savaquin may overcome a career high mark in the Wyndham Handicap (3.15pm) over the extended mile, while lightly raced but progressive Sturdy Ruby can improve further on his eye-catching debut in the On Lan Handicap (2.15pm), over the same trip.

Blinkers are removed from talented and improving E UNIVERSE, who seeks

Phoenix Light (centre) has a chance of recording a third success in Hong Kong

to go one better in division two of the Glenealy Handicap (2.45pm) over six furlongs.

Gallopers who raced up with the early pace when the action took place on the ‘B’ track last month dominated the majority of the card, and E Universe is ideally placed in gate two to be positioned just behind the leader from the off.

The Australian-bred three-year-old was difficult for Bowman to settle in the early stages, when just touched off by Super Vince last month, so the blinds have come off and he has subsequently trialled okay without them. Bowman also climbs aboard talented but unpredictable PHOENIXLIGHT for

the first time in the finale, the Shelley Handicap (3.50pm) over six furlongs.

The Dennis Yip-trained five-year-old is a smart handicapper at his best, and makes his first appearance at the city track after a record of two wins and a place against similar company at Sha Tin.

Those form figures would probably read better but for five of his six performances coming from double figure draws this season, while the only time he had a positive gate he managed to win.

In the majority of his races, he has got too far back after being positioned at the rear of the field to overcome a wide journey, compromising his

chances of winning.

This time drawn near the middle of the pack in stall seven, Bowman is likely to have him closer to the pace from the off.

There is no doubt if Phoenix Light, who is fitted with a tongue-tie for the first time, can get within strikingrange of the leaders turning into the home straight then his impressive finishing-kick can cause a surprise.

POINTERS

E Universe 2.45pm Happy Valley Phoenix Light e/w 3.50pm Happy Valley

Back-in-form Fownes set to work another Charm at the Valley

IT’S GREAT to see trainer and ‘King of the Valley’ Caspar Fownes in sparkling form at present.

The former four-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer had been going through a rough patch in the last couple of months, with only a couple of wins in both February and March.

That all changed at the Valley last week when a winning four-timer

propelled him back to leading trainer at his favourite track – 23 of his 35 seasonal wins have been at Happy Valley – and then he followed that with a double at Sha Tin on Sunday. With the stable firing on all cylinders, it would be a folly to overlook his half-dozen raiders at the Valley today, including the talented but hugely frustrating Storm Legend, who

carries top-weight in the On Lan Handicap (2.15pm) over the extended mile.

This down-in-class son of Night Of Thunder has been expensive to follow when presented with winning chances already this season but, if reproducing his best form, will never get a better opportunity to finally getting his head in front.

A similar comment applies to stable companion CHARMING STEED, who seeks to get his career back on track when carrying bottom-weight in the first division of the Glenealy Handicap (12.45pm) over six furlongs. The French-bred son of Charm Spirit has been largely disappointing for a long time now, but offered a glimmer of hope when making the frame behind Speed

Fay Fay at Sha Tin earlier this month. Having won from a 12lb higher mark in the ratings, and with a low draw now in his favour, he has an ideal opportunity to go close in what looks an average contest.

POINTERS

Charming Steed e/w 12.45pm Happy Valley

WHILE casual skiers and snowboarders put boots back into lofts as the European snow season becomes a thing of months past, the cream of Britain’s winter sportspeople are not done in continuing a record-breaking campaign on the white stuff.

A year on from a disappointing Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, where Team GB medalled only in curling, the country’s skiers and snowboarders have already notched up an avalanche of 50 medals across multiple disciplines at World Cup, World Championship and X Games events this season.

They include 16-year-old snowboarder Mia Brookes, who won slopestyle gold at the World Championships in February, and freestyle skier Zoe Atkin, 20, who won the SuperPipe title at the X Games in January.

Success has ranged from Alpine to moguls to Nordic to half-pipe and beyond, and it’s truly beginning to look like a renaissance on snow ahead of the next Winter Olympics in Milan.

SOFAR, SNOW GOOD

Remarkably, this bumper winter has come despite the loss of almost half of GB Snowsport’s funding following the team-wide underperformance seen in China 12 months ago.

That was blamed in part on Covid-19, which proved a significant barrier to training given that Britain isn’t famed for its double diamond black runs and outdoor icy halfpipes, while Brexit was, and remains, another hindrance because of restrictions on how long Brits can spend in mainland Europe. So what on earth is going on?

“It is a combination of great talent and some serious innovation in the way we operate. We’re very entrepreneurial in our approach,” Vicky Gosling, chief executive of GB Snowsport, tells City A.M.

“We went out to Beijing on a really positive trajectory, then it didn’t go that well and then, as a result, we lost £3m worth of funding [down from around £6.5m].

“Then we just put every single ounce of energy and imagination into supporting the athletes to be where they need to be using quite an innovative strategy and, touch wood, it’s worked.

“The thing that I think is really fascinating is that in every discipline that sits under the GB Snowsport umbrella, we have in this season alone medalled in every one of them – ski cross, moguls, border cross, para Alpine, Alpine, snowboard, freestyle ski, freestyle snowboard, cross-country, and para Nordic. It’s ridiculous really, nobody would expect that.”

The development really is in stark contrast to the failures of Beijing – no matter the number of factors at play there, including the lack of test events. But now snowsport in the UK has a pool of athletes, many of whom will have at least two more Winter Olympics in them, and a track record of winning at the highest level.

RESURGENCE

So after a number of failures in summer sports in Tokyo and an increasingly tough fight for funding, does GB Snowsport think it deserves a better share of the pot?

“I wouldn’t want to take any [funding]

away from any of the summer or winter sports,” adds Gosling. “All I would say is that sometimes it is good to recalibrate and look at what we are delivering against the odds.

“There’s no doubt winter sports are costly, so when you look at comparators –we don’t have these facilities [for snowsport], we effec-

sum given by MSP Sports Capital to the X Games, but Britain is less able to capitalise on such investment.

“It’s difficult for us,” says Gosling. “We don’t have those events in Britain because we don’t have the mountain ranges. We struggle to get that type of investment, we are more heavily reliant on benefaction or sponsorship.”

The ongoing resurgence isn’t restricted to just snowsports; speed skating, ice dancing, bobsled and other ice sports are also basking in Cornelius Kersten claimed Britain’s first long track speed skating world medal for 72 years, ice dance pair Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear won European silver and achieved top spot in the world rankings, while there was also a first fourman bobsleigh world medal since the 1930s.

IN FROM THE COLD: TOP BRITISH STORIES

“I think we [Brits] know what it takes to win,” Gosling says. “And [winter sports are] such attractive sports. It comes with risk, it’s exciting to watch, it’s very Formula 1-esque.

“You’re watching these Brits with grit throwing themselves into tricky environments, whether it’s down a bobsled track or a big air competition. When you can start to demonstrate that we can compete on a world class stage, people get genuinely excited.

“And we need to be looking forward to Milan Cortina [in 2026] because it’s the first Winter Olympics in the same time zone. It’s our playing field, it’s our playing ground.”

Maybe it’s time we Brits look at the Winter Olympics not as plucky athletes giving it a go like Eddie the Eagle and instead send Team GB to Milan with expectation on their shoulders.

But as with so much, it goes back to funding. And if the summer bunch underperform in Paris in 2024, will Gosling put her hand up and argue for more funding for snowsport? “Yes,” she says, with a determined smile.

ZOE ATKIN

Freestyle skier, 20, whose elder sister Izzy also competes for Britain, won the SuperPipe at the X Games in January and has since won World Cup and World Championship silver.

MIA BROOKES

Teenage snowboard sensation, 16, hit the headlines when she won an audacious slopestyle gold at February’s World Championships.

CORNELIUS KERSTEN

Won Britain’s first long track speed skating medal at the World Championships for 72 years in the Netherlands last month.

LEWIS GIBSON AND LILAH FEAR

Ice dancing pair won silver at the European Championships in January and climbed to No1 in the world rankings. Finished fourth at the Worlds last month.

Britain has taken winter sports by storm in 2023. How did that happen, asks Matt Hardy

Gosling (left) and Zoe Atkin (above)

We have medalled in every discipline this season. It’s ridiculous, no one would expect that

SPORT

SO

FAR, SNOW GOOD How Britain went from winter sport flops to world beaters

Glazers rile United suitors with bid request

FRANK DALLERES

MANCHESTERUnited owners the Glazer family have risked aggravating would-be buyers by taking their sale of the club to a third round of bidding.

More than two weeks after the deadline for second offers, bankers the Raine Group finally broke their silence to bidders yesterday – only to inform them that the Glazers want another round of offers before they whittle down the shortlist any further at the end of April.

The move increased fears that United’s American owners will only sell up in full if they achieve a valuation of £6bn, more than double the Premier League club’s market capitalisation. Further delays risk deterring those bidders keen to wrap up a deal

Premier League club’s owners demand third round of offers and risk deterring buyers keen to prepare for next season

and lay the groundwork for a summer of transfer business. At Chelsea, Todd Boehly’s consortium was left playing catch-up with rival clubs despite completing its £2.5bn takeover in late May last year.

British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad

Al Thani have both made bids to take control of United, while activist investor Elliott Management is among several parties offering financing that would allow the Glazer family to remain as owners.

An individual close to one of the bidders called suggestions that Raine was

‘London 2012 effect’ sees Britons snap up most Olympic tickets of non-host nations

BRITAIN is leading the way for ticket purchases outside of France ahead of next year’s Paris 2024 Olympics.

The French capital will host the iconic multi-sport extravaganza for the first time in 100 years in what is set to be the first Olympiad since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It also marks a return to Europe more than a decade on from London 2012, spurring a flurry of interest from British sporting fans, who have snapped up more tickets than any other nation apart from the hosts.

“The memories from 2012 are still around and we kind of piggyback on that,” Etienne Thobois, chief executive of Paris 2024, told City A.M.

“The first phase [of ticket sales] has been fantastically encouraging. We’ve got more than 158 countries represented in the buyers.

“We believe that there is a high expectation, as always, with the Olympics in particular disciplines but the very good surprise was to see that in events less popular in France, like hockey or water polo, [tickets] went very quickly.”

But while organisers say ticket sales are flying, it is currently uncertain as to whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete in the next Olympics.

Since Vladimir Putin’s illegal inva-

sion of Ukraine, aided by Belarus, Russia and its neighbour have been banned from competing under their flags in international sporting competition.

And while some sporting federations are beginning to allow the participation of athletes due to the timeframe ahead of the Olympics, there are still a number of nations – including the UK – calling for Paris 2024 to exclude Russians and Belarusians.

But that doesn’t appear to be deterring fans for those countries from buying tickets.

Paris 2024 chiefs have sold 3.5m tickets so far

“The [ticketing] platform is open to everyone,” Thobois added.

“We are definitely not controlling the nationalities of the people that come into the ballot.

“No matter their nationality or where they live, for us there’s no blockage. The question is much more whether there will be Russian or Belarusian athletes, but that’s not for us to decide.”

The first phase of sales saw 3.5m tickets purchased, two thirds by domestic customers. Registration for the second phase, which includes individual tickets and some of the most sought-after finals, ends on 20 April.

The Olympics begin in July 2024 and run through until mid-August.

still entertaining seven offers after two months of talks with buyers “utterly absurd”. They added: “They can go to 10 rounds, it doesn’t really matter. If they don’t get the price they want, ultimately that’s the determining factor.”

It remains unclear whether the Glazers are definitely ready to offload their 69 per cent stake in United after 18 years of hostility from large sections of the Premier

League club’s fanbase. They are said to be seeking a deal that values United at £6bn, with some believing the reclusive Florida-based investors may even have set their sights on closer to £6.5bn.

Ineos chemicals tycoon Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim, chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank, are thought to have proposed figures of around £5bn. United’s share price has fallen by $4

to a shade over $21 since last month, giving the club a current market capitalisation of $3.47bn (£2.79bn).

Ratcliffe, who is from Greater Manchester and already owns sports teams including French football club Nice and road cycling’s Ineos Grenadiers, is believed to have made an offer for the Glazers’ full shareholding that relies on debt. Sheikh Jassim is understood to be seeking a full buyout of United that does not depend on borrowing.

If the Glazers opt to remain in charge and instead seek financing for a raft of improvements considered necessary to modernise Old Trafford they will be able to choose from several options.

Elliot Management, which sold current Italian champions AC Milan last summer, has proposed financing for the Glazers or another bidder.

Lampard rejects Di Matteo parallels as Chelsea eye another miracle in Madrid

FRANK DALLERES

FRANK Lampard has played down comparisons with Champions League-winning Chelsea interim manager Roberto Di Matteo and told his players to make their own history against Real Madrid.

Former Blues midfielder Di Matteo was handed the reins for the last few weeks of the 2011-12 season and ended up guiding them to European club football’s most prestigious trophy.

Lampard, who was part of that triumphant Chelsea team, finds himself in a similar situation ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-finals first leg in Madrid.

“There are parallels in a simple

sense,” said Lampard, who was put in charge until the summer following the sacking of Graham Potter last week.

“The year [Di Matteo] was here, he was an assistant and had an awareness of the squad. My situation is different in practice. I did have an awareness of the squad. I have to be careful making that parallel. We’re very committed to making our own bit of history.”

With just four wins from 18 games in 2023, Chelsea are underdogs for a tie with the holders, who lifted the European Cup for a 14th time last season.

Real Madrid mounted a late rally to overcome the Blues in the last eight 12 months ago, and Lampard

believes his team can use that setback as motivation.

“Every new year in football brings a new story. The year before that, Chelsea came here and were successful,” he added.

“Last year Real Madrid produced an incredible game that changed when Chelsea looked to be strong. My focus will not be on last year, it will be on what we can do this year.”

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, who coached Chelsea between 2009 and 2011, ruled out a return to Stamford Bridge and backed his former player to succeed in his second spell as Blues boss.

“Will I go back? No. I hope Lampard will be able to do a fantastic job with them,” he said.

The Glazer family value United at around £6bn

PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

MATT HARDY

FOOTBALL