Boris follows Cameron to the Two Cities lunch
PUNDITS watching to see if Boris Johnson will try to return to parliament and run in the next election might be pricking their ears at the news from the Two Cities Conservative fundraiser.
Following David Cameron’s guest appearance at last year’s do, Boris Johnson has been revealed as this year’s guest and by all accounts, it’s off to a roaring start. “We have already sold 200 out of the available 400 places with two and a half months to go before the event,” said fund manager Patrick Evershed, who is president of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservatives. “Tickets have never sold so quickly.”
Could this be the news to coax Bozzer back to Westminster?
■ SILICON Valley Bank will be watching The Duke of York’s plans like a hawk in the run-up to its next event at the end of April. It turns out the bank’s guest list was greatly depleted for its Startupbootcamp networking event, held on 2 April, because it clashed with the Pitch@Palace bootcamp in St James’ Palace. Twelve startups and 300 odd guests were invited to the palace by Prince Andrew, a good chunk of whom also had an invite from SVB. Given it was the first time this event had been held at St James’ you can imagine which they picked. “We kept getting cancellations but we understood, and we still had a great event considering we were in competition with the palace,” Bindi Karia, SVB’s startup guru, told us. “But it has to be said, we organised ours first!”
■ COULD a Lloyd’s of London underwriter dig out the next Burberry? The Capitalist has caught wind that Lloyd’s doyenne Lady Rona Delves Broughton has teamed up with Simon Petherick, the former MD of Savile Row tailor Hardy Amies, at The House of Britannia, a company aiming to invest in the hidden gems of British luxury goods firms. She is to be chairman of the firm, which has already signed a deal with famous shirtmaker Thresher & Glenny (which has had a Royal Warrant since 1783 and has counted Nelson and Garibaldi among its clients). Lady Delves Broughton is no stranger to the luxury market though, having helped develop the former Metropolitan Police station house into the prestigious boutique hotel The Greenwich London. Watch this space.