What now for Robert Dudley, the ousted chief executive of BP's Russian venture?
Under the deal thrashed out between the British company and its oligarch partners, Dudley must quit his post as boss of TNK-BP by the end of the year. He's entitled to feel extremely sore at his treatment — there are those who believe he has been hung out to dry by his British masters, that the Russians asked for and got his head as part of any agreement.

Those close to him say that is not how he sees it; in truth his position had become pretty much untenable once those who account for 50% of the shares demanded his head. Relations had become so fractious that he left Russia five weeks ago and has been in hiding, trying to run TNK-BP from his bolt-hole.

The word is that he is still there and has no immediate plans to return. There is some talk within BP about him going back to a job within the organisation but that seems far-fetched. Not surprisingly, he is exhausted by the long-running dispute and is thought to be considering a complete break from BP.

* Leading the campaign against BP was oligarch Mikhail Fridman. City Spy couldn't help but notice two recent items in the press.

On 25 August, the normally well-informed Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported that Fridman's Alfa Group's communications arm, Altimo, is considering buying the country's largest mobile handset retailer, Evroset.

Altimo chief Alexei Resnikovich has valued Evroset at $1.55 billion (£870 million).
On 2 September, Bloomberg reported that the headquarters of Evroset had the previous day been searched by Russian prosecutors. Andrei Kalinchenko, head of investor relations at Evroset, said by telephone that no reason had been given for the search.

The Russian newspaper Kommersant added that the prosecutors were looking for tax documents, according to an unidentified Evroset source. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office investigative committee declined to comment on the search or give her name.

Broker thrown out of work

Stockbroking is as easy as falling off a log. Or, as in the case of Jeremy Batstone Carr at Charles Stanley, as easy as falling off a horse — hence his absence from the office this week.

Jeremy — whose face often brightens up the TV screens through various business channels — confesses that his first ride of a horse landed him in hospital, and he is subsequently housebound with a bad case of whiplash.

Batstone Carr was staying in Dubai, and went trekking across the desert. Needless to say, he didn't stay long in the saddle. Asked if he would be having another go at horse-riding, he replies: “No, never ever again”.

He's going to stick to share tipping — it's much safer. He intends to be back in the office on Monday.

* The TUC lambasts Marks & Spencer for sacking a whistleblower employee. But another whistleblower tells City Spy he was asked by M&S if he would give a commitment not to do it again and refused. Therefore he had to go.

Barclays' credit for a crisis

You must be joking! The current issue of IR magazine can't contain its excitement over the recent IR Magazine Awards. Picking up the gong for Best Crisis Management was the investor relations team at Barclays. The bank also got the Grand Prix for Best Overall IR. Other recipients of investor relations awards included Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, HBOS and Lloyds TSB. Presumably, the team at Northern Rock couldn't make it...

* In presenting the awards, IR Magazine noted how Barclays and HBOS set up steering committees to get them through the subprime disaster. Not RBS. Its head of investor relations, Richard O'Connor, says “we don't do steering committees”. Wrong, Richard. You do. They're a committee of one steered by that well-known collector of classic cars, one Sir Fred Goodwin.

Brown's move hardly leaves a stamp on the capital

Much has been made of the Gordon Brown relaunch and his desperate attempt to appear to be doing something, anything, to save the housing market.

But then along comes mortgage lender Halifax with the grim news that the value of the average house has crashed by £25,000 in the past 12 months and is now £174,178, just under the new but temporary threshold for stamp duty of £175,000.

Halifax goes on to point out that only 12% of homes sold in London are worth less than £175,000, meaning nearly all buyers are still paying the levy despite Downing Street claims half of all buyers are exempt. Has New Labour given up on London and the south completely?

* The Halifax also says 230,000 homes worth between £125,000 and £175,000, the band now exempt from the 1% stamp duty charge, have changed hands in the past 12 months.

Given transaction levels have tumbled, it is safe to assume nowhere near that many will be sold in the next 12 months. So why does the Treasury claim that the stamp duty holiday will save buyers £600 million, a sum that would need a massive 400,000 homes to be sold?

* The collapse of the pound is a major cause for concern for the economy, but it is proving something of a bonus for thousands of bankers in London.

A number of Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley pay their staff in London in US dollars, and they are enjoying a massive windfall.

When a few months ago the pound was worth $2, a banker on $150,000 a year was getting just £75,000.

With the pound now below $1.80, their pay has spiralled to around £84,000, a whopping 12% pay rise, worth a nice £9000.

If the sterling slump continues, come bonus time these bankers will really feel the difference ... if they get a bonus that is.

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