He has no formal management responsiblity, but his views carry weight - never more so than when he's opining on the future of the Tory party. He recently described David Cameron, with whom he crossed swords when Cameron was a Carlton Communications chief, as a 'company bag-carrier'.

'He was a PR flunky. There was one occasion when he came far too close to denying something that was true. His idea of talking to the press was a bit like talking to the great unwashed and I resented that, but I don't want to come across as a chippy working-class grammar school boy. I fought the BBC's bias against "toffee-nosed gits".'