Ralph Roister Doister
I CAN keep a straight face about Sir Ralph Halpern and his friend Fiona (`daft little bugger', says her photographer: 'you'd think he could do better.') It is well known that Sir Ralph likes to encourage young talent. Nothing has gone right for him since that high point, a month ago, when Peter Riddell singled him out in the Spectator as the sort of entrepreneur whom the Prime Minister prefers to Lord Weinstock, with his old-fashioned business of making and exporting things. Sir Ralph's million-a-year salary at Burton has caused comment, he has had to back down on the even more lavish stock options proposed for him and his board, he has seen Burton's share price shake as the City's jumpy mood extended to his takeover of Debenhams. Entrep- reneurs who force their way to the top of big businesses, binding theif supporters and pushing out their rivals, insisting on supreme power as chairman and chief executive — they are easy to recognise just now. The type's risks can be recognised, too. But — 'tycoon's name linked to topless model': Oh, dear. Not, I trust, bottomless.
Previous page
