It’s what any caring billionaire half longs for, half dreads: the moment his charge takes the first, faltering steps from dependence towards self-sufficiency.
For Lord Bamford, who with his wife has been supporting Boris Johnson with everything from a free wedding to country and town houses, there will inevitably be worries that their protege is not quite ready to stand on his own two feet. Of course, it’s adorable that the recently struggling politician feels able, according to recent reports, to buy a £4m house with a moat for his latest family, but it’s also natural if his benefactors – Bamford not being the only such philanthropist – fear that the notionally sitting MP might one day overtax the patience of the international speaking circuit. Johnson recently signed up, with an advance of £2.5m, to the Harry Walker Agency in New York.
