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The UK’s Most Influential Man

By January 8, 2013News

IMAGE FREE FOR USE ---Park Plaza Westminster Bridge HotelSo, then, a poll to find the UK’s most influential man. On the panel are important citizens including PR mastermind Matthew Freud, Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, Sir Philip Green, Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, president of the Royal Society Sir Paul Nurse, Richard Branson and co-director of the Serpentine Gallery Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Clearly, they’ll pick the Prime Minister, right? Or Prince William? Or Bradley Wiggins? (ahem).
No. The UK’s most influential man is… (drum roll) David Beckham.
No, of course it isn’t. It’s our very own Mayor of London who beat political rivals including David Cameron, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt to the ‘prize’. Other notable people in the top ten, published in GQ magazine, include Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood (deemed more influential than the PM), Lord Justice Leveson, Downing Street Director of Strategy Andrew Cooper and, oddly, William Waldegrave.
The Daily Mail reports that ‘The Mayor of London, who won plaudits for his handling of the widely-praised Olympic Games, triumphed over luminaries in politics, showbusiness and top executives in a list published by GQ magazine.’

A spokesman for GQ told the Daily Telegraph that list featured a large proportion of old-Etonians and wealthy figures ‘who were more guarded about their private lives after the explosion of web gossips who discussed the details of the rich and famous.’

She added: ‘Untrammelled power like that wielded by Rupert Murdoch is replaced by institutional scrutiny and new-media guruism. In reaction there has been a resurgence of the old guard – former Etonians dominate public life once more, including the mayor of London, the archbishop of Canterbury and the prime minister.’

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