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Who's in and who's out
Gideon Spanier, Evening Standard24 Nov 2008
Our magazine The 1,000: London's Influential People, published last month, highlighted the powerbrokers and agenda-setters of 2008. However, influence shifts quickly. Gideon Spanner looks at who's in and who's out.
JAZZING IT UP
MUSIC
CLAIRE WHITAKER, 44
DIRECTOR
Multi-tasking director of music producers Serious, which has overseen this month's annual London Jazz Festival, with a record 250 events. Whitaker has encouraged the festival to expand into new spaces - on the street, in museums and in the outer London boroughs - and is an ardent campaigner for a relaxation of the laws on live music.
REGENERATION GURU
PROPERTY
SIR TERRY FARRELL, 70
ARCHITECT
Appointed by Mayor Boris Johnson to lead the regeneration of five suburban "growth hubs" - with areas such as Croydon, Woolwich and Canary Wharf earmarked. Farrell, who has a reputation as a maverick, worked on the redevelopment of Paddington Basin and the Vauxhall HQ of MI6.
MAKING MOVES
RETAIL
GEORGE DAVIES, 67
M&S HEAD OF DESIGN FOR PER UNA
Mercurial design guru behind the successful Per Una range has quit, along with his savvy daughter Melanie Davies who served as head of its business unit. Their departure is a blow to M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose. While Davies Senior is planning to expand his own sports clothing business, retailers want to see where his daughter goes too.
CHAMPION OF INDUSTRY
BUSINESS
RICHARD LAMBERT, 64
CBI DIRECTOR-GENERAL
Respected ex-FT editor who has become an articulate and vocal champion of employers and small businesses in the credit turmoil. Has been unafraid to criticise the Government, City bonuses and pensions industry. He holds court today at the CBI's annual conference in the capital.
SURVIVOR
TV & RADIO
JONATHAN ROSS, 47
BBC PRESENTER
Has survived at the BBC after the furore over those prank phone calls. For now his bosses have calculated that Ross is too influential with viewers - and it might be too difficult - to axe him. So he is set to return as chat show host, DJ and film critic after just a three-month suspension. But his next BBC contract won't be for £18 million.
UNDER PRESSURE
POLITICS
JACQUI SMITH, 46
HOME SECRETARY
Under fire over her plans to tighten the law on prostitution which critics, both liberal and conservative, say are muddled and misleading. Smith has also failed to persuade the doubters about the wisdom of a national identity card scheme. The next big test of her authority is whether she gets her way over the choice of the new Met chief.
