LESS than three weeks to go to the City Corporation elects a new Lord Mayor, and all is not exactly sweetness and light at Guildhall.

Last year, the election was held on 25 June.

What happens is that the livery companies elect those up for Lord Mayor with cries of “this year”, “next year”, “later” and, more rarely, “never”. Last year, the current incumbent, lawyer David Lewis, received a ringing “this year”. He was followed by tax accountant Ian Luder, endorsed as a candidate by the Council of Aldermen. Luder expected to be greeted with “next year” but his name was met with silence.

As one of only two sheriffs of the City, Luder's candidature is due to come round again — under the rules, only sheriffs can become mayor. The aldermen would like Luder and another of their number, property veteran Mike Bear, to take the job — Luder next year, Bear after that.

However, there's a bit of a smear campaign against Luder. He's seen as having risen very quickly, and press cuttings have been circulating about his previous stint as a Bedford councillor, and how he quit there when things went against him. Now an anonymous letter is circulating from a liveryman claiming that the views of the livery companies are being ignored and urging members to speak up. There is even talk they will seek a formal poll or at the very least a formal show of hands.

What seems to have been causing particular offence is that Luder has been touted in the press as Lewis's successor, “which implies that our role as liverymen in the election is regarded as worthless.” It could get very messy indeed.

* HOW desperate are the banks for work? Spotted at John Brinkley's drinking haven in Chelsea the other day, a £60,000 Piaget-wearing Middle Eastern gentleman looking just a little bored as the Royal Bank of Scotland private banking adviser pitched on “exotic investments” using a flip-chart of all things...

* MEANWHILE, do the bosses of the American and two French HSBC investment bankers who have been regularly larging it during the afternoon at Brinkley's over the last few weeks know what they are up to?

Soccer job not Hornby's goal

Stephen Lansdown can relax. The boss of funds group Hargreaves Lansdown need not fear an imminent bid from HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby to become manager of thriving Bristol City, where Lansdown is chairman.

Hornby, 41, told BBC business editor Robert Peston that he wasn't looking for new challenges after the torments the credit crunch has provided in the past year. “I will certainly carry on watching Bristol City but I don't think I could do a better job than Gary Johnson, that's for sure.” Eh?

* CURIOUSLY, the Halifax branch in which the Hornby interview took place was deserted even though the clock on the wall showed 9.30am.
Surely the savers weren't having to wait outside while Peston offered the HBOS chief executive the benefit of his public relations expertise?
“Well, you should ignore the bloody media,” Peston said in what was surely the first case of a BBC news reporter swearing during
an interview.

Eco homes that lose the plot

ARCHITECT Lord Rogers boasts that he has produced eco-friendly houses, made out of paper and wood to be sustainable, in Milton Keynes at £60,000 each.

“The £60,000 is the house, not the land,” he tells Andrew Marr. That not inconsiderable detail about having to pay for the land means prices range from £199,500 to £450,000. So even though the houses have been described as “rabbit hutches”, they are still above the £175,000 threshold on which the Chancellor lifted stamp duty to help first time buyers.

* FOR those who thought Royal Bank of Scotland might be selling off assets to repay its loyal equity holders who have acted beyond the call of
duty, think again. RBS's cars and other leasing and financing arm is in exclusive negotiations to acquire the leasing business of Kaupthing Singer
and Friedlander...

* FOR a decade, Gordon Brown bellowed “no more boom and bust!” Oddly, he's stopped saying it...

City smiles at a new twist to the Dyke and Allen tale

THE drafting in by Goldman Sachs of Charles Allen to advise its private equity arm and assist with Endemol, one of its main investments, has provoked wry smiles across the City.

In March 2006, Allen, then heading ITV, was on the end of a takeover bid fronted by Greg Dyke and funded by Goldman, Apax and Blackstone. There was a personal edge to the attempt. Dyke once called Allen a “cost-cutting caterer who knew little about television”.

In his autobiography, Dyke said: “As an ex-ITV man, I feel terribly sad about the decline of ITV... and I am not confident it can recover without radical change.” Now, Dyke's backer has turned to Allen for help. It's a funny old world.

* WHAT is the difference between FlyBe, the regional carrier that has seen profits rise 14% during the summer, and Ryanair whose earnings collapsed 85%? “Many of our passengers are very frequent flyers visiting friends and family or second home owners,” says FlyBe chairman Jim French. “If a Ryanair passenger goes back to the same destination twice, the second time is to go and clean up and apologise.”

* WHO says the City is only full of ruthless money-obsessed Masters of the Universe? The City of London Corporation has unveiled the shortlist for its annual Dragon Awards, an effort to show recognition for corporate good deeds in the community. Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, KPMG, UBS and
Barclays are among those on this year's shortlist.
The City Corporation's sister organisation, City Action, which arranges for financial folk to do volunteering work, says that applications have increased by 39% on a year ago.
Whether this outbreak of good neighbourliness is connected to an outpouring of guilt plus the fact everyone has more time on their hands is, of course, another matter...