People and Business: Roundhead

MICHAEL HARDERN, the freelance butler and self-styled carpetbagger- in-chief, is taking time off from trying to to extract windfalls from Britannia Building Society to launch his own political movement today, the Lords Party.

This follows from Mr Hardern's scheme to make every British citizen a member of the House of Lords. A worrying new development is that he has put himself forward as "the first Lord Protector - office to expire on 31 December 1999".

The last Lord Protector I can think of in this country was Oliver Cromwell, who executed King Charles I and closed the House of Commons in order to impose his own Parliament, among other things.

As for Mr Hardern's push for power, I can only quote Oliver Cromwell back at him: "In the name of God - go!"