Welcome to FN’s weekly diary column featuring all the best titbits from around the City of London...

Lord Odey of Mayfair?
Why was outspoken Brexiteer hedge fund manager Crispin Odey so uncharacteristically tight-lipped during the general election campaign? One theory doing the rounds at Odey Asset Management is that the financier, who donated generously to the Vote Leave campaign, is hoping he will soon receive a peerage from his old friend, prime minister Boris Johnson. “Crispin has been keeping a low profile of late because he’s keen to become a member of the House of Lords, believes this is a likely outcome and doesn’t want any shrill coverage,” an employee at Odey Asset Management said on condition of anonymity. “Even when Jeremy Corbyn attacked him [in October the Labour leader called Odey one of the “greedy bankers... who makes millions betting against our country”] he didn’t respond as robustly as he otherwise would have done.” Last August the Express reported Odey was one of several businessmen who would be rewarded with a peerage from Johnson for their Brexit support. The appointment would be controversial, not least because Odey Odey is a Remainer bête noire, having made a reported £220m in June 2016 betting that the vote to leave the EU would precipitate a fall in the pound. Odey refused to get back to Capital when we called him for comment and the Conservative Party would not comment. But last year he told Financial News: “I’ve wasted my time making money for the last 30 years and watching the body politic getting worse and worse... you suddenly realise you’ve got to become politically involved again.” Will that be as Lord Odey of Mayfair?