We at Boriswatch Towers do, occasionally, treat ourselves to a meal out. Whilst the evening in Barnsley when we all had chicken soup, pie, mash, peas and gravy and a pint of local bitter for 99p ranks amongst our favourites, we do sometimes eat in London as well. Not often, mind; £12.50 for a cheese panini isn’t that affordable on Boriswatch wages.
Still, that’s a very reasonable lunch compared to the cost of the grub at Boris’ ‘breakfast club’, launched this week. Bozza played host to what City AM calls ‘a star studded launch’ of the charitable Mayor’s Fund for London at the newly refurbished Savoy this week. The ‘stars’ were listed as Sir Trevor Chinn (Chinny, to his mates), Jim O’Neill and Stanley Fink, none of whom anyone at Boriswatch HQ has heard of.
*rustles paper*
Oh, they appear to be bigwigs in the banking industry, not actual ‘stars’, as such. One of them is deputy chairman of something called the Man Group, which is either a euphemism or a performing theatre troupe, as far as we know.
Anyway, a poached egg and salmon brekkie at Boris’ posh do cost incoming Barclays chief exec Bob Diamond £50,000 – a bill which seems pretty pricey, even by London standards. We paid £9.99 for an ‘all you can eat seafood salad bar’ in Holborn once, but no-one’s ever tried to pass a £50k expenses bill past the boss, as far as we know.
As for the welcome prepared for his corporate friends yesterday, Boris was effusive, and tried to put on a brave face regarding London’s prospects as a business hub: “Selling London as a financial centre is slightly easier than selling Egypt as a tourist destination,â€? he pointed out. I bet you don’t pay £50,000 for an egg in Sharm-el-Sheikh, though….