Senior lawyers reacted warily last week as Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister, warning that a smooth handover of power was “not really the done thing these days” and the recent lack of unseemly squabbles, crippling succession issues and territorial infighting had “raised eyebrows, if not expectations” in the City.
Allen & Overy senior partner Guy Beringer said judging the former Chancellor purely on the strength of the economy was “horribly superficial” and failed to take account of crucial other factors including the colour of his tie, his arsenal of well-meaning platitudes about Africa and “whether civil service mandarins had a good work-life balance”.
