Over to the Philip Mould gallery in Dover Street, where the inaugural Contrarian award was presented to former Olympus boss Michael Woodford last night. The prize was to honour those who “stick their head above the parapet and can’t be bought off”.
Also nominated were gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Giles Fraser, who resigned as Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke and UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who was represented by donor Stuart Wheeler.
Woodford, accepting the prize, said that while he started off blowing the whistle on Japanese electronics company Olympus, by the end he felt he was playing a part “in the middle of a John Grisham novel”. He added: “I think the Japanese need a Contrarian Prize, too”.