Budget score is 7 out of 10, say our panel June 23, 2010 GEORGE Osborne’s first Budget deserves a score of seven out of ten, our unique panel of London’s financiers and business professionals said yesterday. The City A.M./PoliticsHome.com Panel, which has been specially recruited to represent a cross section of London’s financial community, was also asked whether they thought the toughest fiscal consolidation in Britain’s peacetime history [...]
Eighty per cent of directors give Osborne the thumbs up June 23, 2010 EIGHTY per cent of company directors support George Osborne’s emergency Budget, according to a survey. The Institute of Directors (IoD) said four out of five members backed the chancellor’s plan for the biggest fiscal consolidation in Britain’s peacetime history. Of the 640 directors surveyed, 83 per cent said the measures would have a positive impact [...]
ACTOR KEVIN SPACEY ENJOYS A RETURN TO THE TRADING FLOOR June 23, 2010 ACTOR and Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey is becoming quite the dab hand on the trading floor, if reports from our Stateside friends are to be believed. Bankers at Citigroup in New York were astonished last week when Spacey popped into their offices to do a spot of research for his new movie, Margin [...]
PM confirms public sector pensions cut June 23, 2010 THE PRIME Minister yesterday confirmed the pensions of existing public sector workers will be cut, as he defended the coalition Budget in a tetchy question and answer session with voters. Cameron said the bill for public sector pensions was too high and that schemes would become less favourable for existing members of staff as well [...]
Boris Johnson to declare re-election bid in weeks June 23, 2010 BORIS Johnson is preparing to stand for re-election as London Mayor, according to reports yesterday. The former Tory MP is expected to declare his intention to stand in the 2012 mayoral election in the next few weeks. The contest could see Johnson and Ken Livingstone lock horns again, after the ex-mayor has put himself forward [...]
Clegg confident he can avoid Lib Dem revolt June 23, 2010 NICK Clegg is convinced all his MPs will end up voting for the coalition Budget, despite fears that some in the Lib Dem party will balk at benefit cuts and a thumping hike in VAT. An aide to the deputy Prime Minister said the leadership was confident it could win round the doubters – including renegade [...]
BP faces suit from NY fund June 23, 2010 NEW York state’s pension fund plans to sue BP to recover losses from the drop in the company’s stock price following the worst oil spill in US history, state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said yesterday. DiNapoli, the sole trustee of the $132.6bn (£88.6bn) state pension fund, has hired law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll to [...]
Obama appeals drill ruling, as judge reveals oil shares June 23, 2010 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama is lining up a legal team to fight for his six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as the US faces one of the worst environmental disasters in history. On Tuesday, US district judge Martin Feldman overturned Obama’s moratorium on drilling deeper than 500 feet in the Gulf [...]
Dudley to head Gulf spill team as accident sees oil flow increase June 23, 2010 BP chief executive Tony Hayward yesterday handed over the day-to-day running of the firm’s clean up of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster to managing director Bob Dudley, BP said. Dudley will become president and chief executive of BP’s newly-formed Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation “effective immediately”. But as Dudley took the reins oil gushed [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK BP WILL SURVIVE THE SPILL? June 23, 2010 NIRAJ MISTRY | POLARISOFT “The stock price has dropped so dramatically that it could become an investment opportunity for another oil company. On the flip side, BP is a massive company and I can’t see it disappearing into the sunset. I do think the biggest concern is what will happen to the UK pension funds?” [...]