WHO is the most powerful person in Yorkshire?
I’ll give you three guesses.
You want a few clues?
OK try these.
Our Power Person was born in Lancashire, grew up in Bristol and lives in the West Midlands.
No idea?
It’s Sajid Javid, the Conservative MP for Bromsgrove and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
He was named this week as top of the Power 100 by regional business magazine Insider because it is he who will have the final say on devolution deals in Yorkshire.
So as soon as Javid signs off the devolution deals on the table for the region does that take him out of the Power list?
He’s not the most charismatic or high profile of politicians and, before this, probably wouldn’t have made the top 10 of biggest influencers in Bromsgrove.
But if he can find a way to get Yorkshire devolution agreed then he deserves plenty of credit.
However that doesn’t look to be particularly close given 18 of Yorkshire’s local authorities are committed to a ‘One Yorkshire’ plan while the remaining two – Sheffield and Rotherham – have had a devolution deal for Sheffield City Region already agreed by the Government, paving the way for an elected mayor in that part of South Yorkshire.
Negotiations are ongoing and while you might think the size and will of the 18 would overcome the resistance of the two, the advantage that Sheffield and Rotherham have is that they, like teenagers doing their GCSEs, actually read the exam paper on devolution set by the Government.
It clearly stated it wanted city region devolution deals and that is why Manchester and Birmingham both now have elected mayors and significant devolved powers.
But Yorkshire’s elected politicians scrapped between themselves like cats in a bag and then came up with a new plan.
Like a school pupil who doesn’t like the exam paper so ignores it.
Not surprisingly it hasn’t gone down very well in Westminster and Sajid Javid is now trying to help broker a deal that works.
Well when I say works, it looks like it will work as well as an invention by Caractus Potts.
What is said to be being considered is that the already agreed Sheffield City Region devolution deal will go ahead with the support of Barnsley and Doncaster before there is then an attempt to bring the Sheffield City Region into the One Yorkshire fold.
It makes your head hurt.
Only politicians could ever consider this progress.
Meanwhile Yorkshire’s economy, infrastructure and businesses miss out on millions of pounds of devolved funding that the likes of Manchester and Birmingham are already putting to good use.
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THE gathered throng you see in the photograph above are the cream of the Yorkshire corporate finance community who came together last night for our Big Ticket event.
More than 200 lawyers, accountants, bankers, private equity players and business people were at The Wardrobe in Leeds to celebrate the strength of the sector in the region and, importantly, raise a lot of money for the Maggie’s Yorkshire charity.
Belfast duo Disco Beard were again the entertainment along with talented DJ Mark Green.
Just before the band kicked off their first set I welcomed guests to the event and introduced Martin Jenkins, chair of the Maggie’s Yorkshire board, to say a few words about the charity.
He reported that in the 12 months since the last Big Ticket event, Maggie’s has raised a further £2m towards its target of £6m to build and run a centre to support cancer patients at St James’s Hospital in Leeds.
Martin used to be the senior partner responsible for Deloitte’s 700-strong practice in Yorkshire and the North East but this year, after 28 years with the firm, made the switch to become business development and strategy director of £750m vehicle leasing group Zenith.
I wondered whether his move would mean that his former colleagues from Deloitte, which sponsored the event alongside law firm Squire Patton Boggs, private equity firm LDC and corporate finance advisers Sentio Partners, would give Martin the respect that he got when he led them?
But I’m sure I saw all the Deloitte people standing to attention during his short address.
Old habits die hard.
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SOMEBODY asked me last week what I thought of the Presidents Club story that so consumed the British media after the Financial Times published an investigation which reported that hostesses at a charity dinner in London were groped, propositioned and subject to lewd comments.
Putting morality aside, from a purely journalistic and media point of view I made the assessment that the story – which dominated front pages and news bulletins on Wednesday and Thursday last week – would have blown over by the start of this week.
And so it has, after the Presidents Club closed down and the charities which were due to benefit from the estimated £2m raised from the event have refused to accept any donations.
I’d never heard of the Presidents Club and to be honest, for someone who has spent a long time around the business world I’ve never been to anything like it.
It sounded completely archaic.
Now I’m no prude and certainly couldn’t claim to be politically correct, but I know right and wrong and that everyone should be treated with respect.
I’m as fair-minded as the next man.
As long as he’s not the President of the United States.
What seems particularly unfortunate is that charities which were due to benefit substantially from the event will no longer, having clearly taken the view that donations from the Presidents Club would be tainted.
Where that money goes now I don’t know but for it not to end up going to a good cause would be shameful on top of the opprobrium created by the event.
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FOLLOWING in the wake of darts, which has got rid of the female models who accompany players up the oche, this week Formua 1 motor racing announced that ‘grid girls’ will no longer be used in the sport.
It said that the long-standing practice is “clearly at odds with modern-day societal norms”.
I’ve never met Societal Norm, but I think I may not see completely eye-to-eye with him.
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TALKING of the Insider business magazine Power 100 it made me wonder what makes a person powerful?
Given I once appeared in it at number 56 – I would have been higher but the Chuckle Brothers were included individually rather than as a pair – you might think I have some idea.
I haven’t got a clue.
But what is real power in Yorkshire?
The ability to deliver sustainable infrastructure projects?
To build skyscrapers or create thousands of jobs?
Or to get a good table in the Flying Pizza with free garlic tomato bread?
Have a great weekend.