ANNA MIKHAILOVA: Ian Botham mysteriously pulls stumps and walks away from restaurant firm he set up in 2015
Ian Botham has been hit for six. The cricket legend has mysteriously walked from the restaurant business he set up in 2015, I can reveal.
Lord Botham – a crossbench peer since 2020 – has quit as a director and sold his shares in Beefy’s Restaurants Ltd, which England’s greatest all-rounder had hoped to turn into a global brand.
When launching the joint, Botham said: ‘My philosophy has always been to ride the torpedo to the end of the tube.’
Lord Botham – a crossbench peer since 2020 – has quit as a director and sold his shares in Beefy’s Restaurants Ltd
But for some reason the restaurant never seems to have made it beyond the boundary of its original site, the Ageas Bowl, home of Hampshire County Cricket Club.
In December the company was bought out by Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings Limited. Other directors survived the restructuring but Lord Botham appears to have had enough and pulled stumps.
The restaurant will continue to brand itself using his nickname, but Botham no longer has operational control over the business.
The peer will remain an ‘ambassador’ for the eatery, a spokesman said, but refused to clarify if this is a paid position.
Botham’s exit capped a patchy performance in 2021. The new peer had to apologise last spring for breaking House of Lords rules after failing to properly declare a £197,329 director’s loan from a company he owns with his wife.
The peer (pictured in January) will remain an ‘ambassador’ for the eatery, a spokesman said, but refused to clarify if this is a paid position
The Lords’ Standards Commissioner ruled that ‘the outstanding director’s loan to Lord Botham constitutes remuneration’ and should have been declared as a ‘taxable benefit’.
Quite the contrast from the Commons Standards Commissioner, who ruled that director’s loans paid to Cabinet Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg by the company he owns (£6 million over three years) did not constitute a taxable benefit. It was purely part of his ‘private and personal life’ – and therefore didn’t need to be declared.
It’s not the end of the innings for Botham, whom Boris Johnson not only ennobled but, perhaps with some mischief, made Trade Envoy to Australia.
Ashes enmity aside, the only deliveries Botham now cares about are from Aussie vineyards direct to his wine business.
I first witnessed millionaire ex-banker Rishi Sunak’s ordinary bloke act when interviewing the then-Treasury Minister in 2019.
He pointedly told me how he’d been eating Pot Noodle, Nando’s and Skittles.
The embattled Chancellor should now take a leaf from the Boris playbook for aspiring leaders.
Asked the price of a loaf of bread, he said: ‘I can tell you the price of a bottle of champagne, how about that?’
Voters don’t dislike politicians who are different; they dislike those pretending to be what they are not.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak pictured alongside his wife Akshata Murthy
Ukraine’s army wants the UK to send tanks but, for now, the besieged country will be getting tractors, I can reveal.
Environment Secretary George Eustice has been asking British suppliers to prop up the former breadbasket of Europe. The Minister has committed to helping Ukrainian farmers with equipment, grain and pesticides.
Surely a new take on that iconic Thatcher-in-a-tank photo must follow – with Eustice, a farmer, riding to the rescue in a tractor.
Non-dom status is regulated by the taxman. So it was surprising the HM Revenue & Customs press office refuses to shine light on the fiendishly complex rules.
‘We cannot comment on identifiable taxpayers and because your questions clearly relate to a specific taxpayer, we cannot provide anything further than a link to online guidance,’ a jobsworth told me, even though my enquiry last week mentioned no one ‘specific’.
Good to know that when the boss and his wife are in trouble, the publicly funded press office ensures the non-dom system remains murky.
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