I left the Sunday Times a year ago to create a CEO reputation advisory firm. Sir Philip Green, the former retail tycoon with whom I fought a running battle, apparently rang a mutual friend and said: ‘I hear he’s going into PR – he should try adding ICK to that.’ More constructive advice came from a property entrepreneur, who told me that my emotional and financial volatility was about to be ‘massively heightened’. That turned out to be very true. When the methadone of your final PAYE payslip cuts out, reality kicks in. But winning clients, and looking after them, is amazingly rewarding. And even when you have a bad day, it’s your bad day.
Newcome Advisory celebrated its first birthday last week. We managed to choose not only the same date as The Spectator’s summer party but the evening of England’s game against DR Congo. Unpatriotically, I prayed for a clear result either way by full time. Despite my fears, we filled the splendid courtyard garden of C. Hoare & Co on Fleet Street with the great, the good and the fourth estate, including cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo, Babcock chair Dame Ruth Cairnie and Thames Water chairman Sir Adrian Montague. Thanking early supporters, I gave a speech channelling that famous philosophical tract Ratatouille. In the Disney Pixar film, Anton Ego, a restaurant critic known for his excoriating reviews, is served a transformative dish (ratatouille, obviously) by newcomer rodent chef Remy. Back in his garret, Ego reflects: ‘In many ways, the work of a critic is easy… But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the new. The world is often unkind to new talents, new creations. The new needs friends.’
