Former communications minister Lord (Stephen) Carter is not wasting any time in returning to the private sector. Just 10 days after quitting government, he is to base himself at the global consultancy firm LEK's Belgravia offices from 1 August and is already using an LEK email address. LEK will be providing a desk and IT support. But it is understood he will not be employed by the consultancy and will not be paid. Under the terms of the Ministerial Code, he must seek the advice of the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments before taking up any job within two years of leaving office to ensure there is no conflict of interest - apart from unpaid roles in non-commercial organisations. Carter, who quit as a minister at the start of the Parliamentary summer recess on 21 July, led the Digital Britain inquiry into the future of the media industry. However, it emerged he was resigning just days before his report was published in June. He previously worked closely with LEK during his time as chief executive of media regulator Ofcom.

* SO the Treasury Select Committee is to launch an investigation into unequal opportunities and sexism in the City? That will be an investigation then by a committee of MPs made up of just one woman and 13 white blokes.

Goodwin signs off...

IT was a bittersweet last meeting for Sir Fred Goodwin when he and Prince Charles broke bread together this week. City Spy can reveal the poor old boy has been clinging grimly on to his stewardship of the Prince's Trust — and his association with the Prince — right until the end.

In true Sir Fred fashion, rather than slip away from the post quietly, at a recent board meeting he was still trying to push through his proposals to change the way the charity was run. City Spy is told: “He was still like a bull in a china shop trying to push his ideas through before he left, even though it was his last meeting. Everyone looked a bit embarrassed and just nodded politely when he was going on.”

I Daria to mess with her, Roman

ROMAN Abramovich, watch out. The billionaire Chelsea owner's girlfriend Daria “Dasha” Zhukova has revealed a hitherto unknown steeliness to her character.

In an interview, the art-loving socialite admits she was so headstrong as a teenager that for some time she refused to move with her scientist mother from Houston to California after emigrating there from Russia and even considered taking legal action against her.

Daria, 26, said:”I actually fought my mom about moving. When she told me, I was so angry because I thought Houston was the best place on earth. I even threatened to divorce her if she tried to move me. I think I was 12.”

* THEIR tight lending policies continue to paralyse the housing market, but the Council of Mortgage Lenders are untying the purse strings when it comes to their annual dinner, planned for 9 December. The location is the HAC, Artillery Gardens in the City. The theme, “vintage revival”, will be inspired by the cocktail bars of the 1950s. The evening will begin with a drinks reception at 6.30pm in a cocktail bar draped in sumptuous velvet with jewel-coloured chandeliers.

A pianist will play “cocktail jazz”. The three-course meal with wine will be interspersed with three short bursts of visually stunning dance entertainment. A DJ will then take over for the rest of evening. Only full tables of 10 are available to book at this stage, with the member rate being £1900 + VAT per table and the non-member rate £2250 + VAT. But it should be worth every penny, as the organisers have laid on a special treat: fairground dodgems! Truth really is stranger than fiction.

* This isn't going to be the easiest job of the year. The government of Iceland has hired City PR firm FD to launch an international campaign to restore confidence in the country's economy as it overhauls a discredited banking sector. Of course, FD's chief exec Geoffrey Pelham-Lane is looking forward to this “hugely interesting and exciting brief”. PR Week reports that “the project was handed to FD without a competitive pitch, based on its reputation.”

More likely no one else wanted it...

* “WITH only 155 days to go,” B&Q is tipping this year as “a DIY Christmas as customers opt to accessorise their homes to add decorative and festive touches.” Shameless.

* IN a letter to the FT, David Williams, chief executive of Avanti Communications, voices what many bosses think but are too afraid to say: “Interns are practically pointless; there are cheaper ways of getting the tea made. With the exception of talented post-grad researchers, you take interns to build relationships with their powerful parents, who may help you in the future. If I have to have a dull teenager cluttering my office for the summer I might as well do it for a reason.”

* MAYOR Boris Johnson recalls life before politics. “One of my first experiences in the world of work was as a management consultant. At the beginning of my first week, I sank into my chair and was very quickly rendered comatose by the presentation on efficient management structures.

Unluckily for me, I was given my instructions just as the Sandman worked his magic and my head lolled a little too obviously. We parted company at the end of that week.”