Summer interns at Lazard Freres in New York can breathe a sigh of relief after President Bill Clinton denied rumours last week that he was lining up a job at the firm after he steps down in November.

The story started in the distinguished Washingtonian magazine gossip column, which said Clintonl's old friend and former adviser Vernon Jordan had lined up the impoverished president with a $10m (E9.7m) a year package. The story was given added weight by the close connections between the White House and Lazard. Jordan himself recently joined Lazard on a healthy package, the US ambassador to France is a former managing director of Lazard and, frankly, Clinton needs the cash. But Bill says he has never thought of joining Lazard and has not been approached. Depending on his strict definition of joining, watch out for the press release from Lazard in December.