Friday, November 09, 2007

In praise of...Gyles Brandreth

We had our Dealmakers Awards last night at Manchester Central. Our host was Gyles Brandreth, who did an absolutely superb job. He really entertained the crowd, he was warm, funny, cutting, bitchy and really great to work with. I never thought a presenter would get an ovation at a corporate finance awards do for ending his turn with a poem by Hilaire Belloc. He did. Wonderful.

I had to do the serious bit of the night with a kick off of our pledge to campaign with businesses in the financial world to repeal the stupid decision to phase out taper relief on business assets.

The big winners on the night were PricewaterhouseCoopers. Colin Gillespie, a really nice bloke, won the Dealmaker of the Year Award. For a Manchester United season ticket holder he's advised more than his fair share of scousers - Liverpool FC and Matalan. The sale of John Hargreaves' business was voted Deal of the Year.

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