What lay behind the Chancellor's outburst that the “forces of hell” were unleashed against him by Gordon Brown after he had the nerve to predict the recession would be the worst for 60 years?

Word reaches City Spy that the dramatic intervention was planned and Darling went into the Sky TV studio determined to say his piece.

What prompted it was that he'd got wind, possibly from Lord Mandelson, that Brown was bringing back his spin doctor and original attack dog Charlie Whelan, for the election campaign.

This was too much for Darling, who felt he'd been briefed against by the Prime Minister's assistants — Whelan and Damian McBride, the premier's spin doctor who was forced to resign last year.

After Darling's TV interview it was taken he was referring to McBride — especially as he said: “Of course there were people saying things, but frankly my best answer for them is the fact that I'm still here, one of them is not.”

But as he made it clear he was talking about “one of them” and indeed, it was the prospect of the re-emergence of Whelan at Brown's side that sent him into orbit.

Myners looking for top Marks

Now that Sir Stuart Rose has confirmed he is stepping down as Marks & Spencer chairman, the search is on for a successor.

One name being murmured is that of Lord Myners, the City minister who could be out of a job shortly and used to chair M&S, a post he dearly loved and gave up only reluctantly...

Whispers at M&S and Morrisons

Meanwhile, just how friendly are relations between Marc Bolland, the former Morrison's CEO and new broom at M&S, and Goldman Sachs? Very, City Spy is told...

Where might highly regarded Richard Pennycook, overlooked for CEO of Morrison's, be heading? One City whisper suggests Ladbroke's...

The inspector will see you now

Forget cookery and property — business is where it's at as far as TV is concerned. Five is launching a new series on Wednesday called The Business Inspector — a twist on hit show The Hotel Inspector, where a trouble-shooter tries to sort out a company instead of an hotel. The Business Inspector herself is a TV debutante, Hilary Devey, billed as a “straight-talking, self-made haulage millionaire”, who founded and runs the freight firm The Pall-Ex Group.

In what must be a first, The Business Inspector is being sponsored by HM Revenue & Customs. Says Devey: “Britain's brimming with creativity but a terrifying number of businesses go bust each year and this shouldn't be happening. I am going to teach businesses how to improve their all-round business knowledge and direction, cash flow, marketing strategy and in some cases, even their enthusiasm.” Maybe she could start by helping HMRC improve their less than efficient processes...

Briatore's billion-dollar baby

As the Formula 1 season gets underway, erstwhile motoring mogul, Queens Park Rangers co-owner and playboy Flavio Briatore has given a suitably upbeat interview to Tatler about his recent travails.

Happily, despite the recession, he says his Billionaire Club in Sardinia — methuselahs of Cristal cost £35,000 and a bottle of mineral water is a snip at £45 — is thriving.

“For the nightclub it was our best year yet,” says Briatore, who also runs Billionaire stores in London, Moscow and Las Vegas. “Maybe some people feel the name Billionaire is a little bit too much, a little bit arrogant. But people like it — it's part of the brand. And now we have the new line Billionaire Baby,” he adds, referring to pregnant partner Elisabetta's baby range.

VW's Skoda shame

Oh dear. German car giant VW is embarrassed that its Czech Skoda subsidiary is producing cars that outshine some of its home-grown models.

VW CEO Martin Winterkorn is reportedly “furious” that the Skoda Superb family car won a comparison test against VW's Passat in the magazine Auto Bild. Concluded Auto Bild: the Superb “simply offers more for the money — a lot more features, and even more space.” On quality, there was “hardly any difference” between the Skoda and VW models.

However, the Skoda is a lot cheaper. Skoda's success doesn't just affect the Volkswagen brand and its two most important models, the Passat and the Golf. It also harms the entire group, because Skoda doesn't make enough profits to offset potential losses at Volkswagen, said Der Spiegel.

SuperDry founder's best bits to come

Supergroup founder Julian Dunkerton — who launched his SuperDry clothing brand via a market stall in 1985 — is set to net around £200 million from the firm's stock market flotation, which opens to the public today.

How did he celebrate? “Er, I'm still quite hung over,” he admits. But he won't be retiring any time soon. “It hasn't even crossed my mind. I will never retire. I love business and I love shops. I've been working at this for 25 years, now it's come to the exciting bit.”

God told to get off the bus

Bad news for theologians: First Group has decided it no longer does God. Having suffered untold aggro from religious groups and humanists over those ad campaigns on the side of London buses last year about whether or not the Big Man Upstairs exists or not, First boss Nicola Shaw has decided she won't allow either side to advertise again: “It was just more hassle than it was worth.”

Forgetful Forbes?

Lord Ashcroft must be very adept at keeping his money hidden — either that or Forbes magazine has committed a serious boob. For the Tory party backer is missing from Forbes “authoritative” list of the world's richest people (compiled by 40 reporters in 13 countries) and he would certainly qualify for the survey's cut-off limit of £664 million.