Simon Wolfson

Wow.

And we used to meet at Simon Wolfson's.

He was the chairman of Next.

Right.

So Julian Richer at Richer Sounds, for example.

Uh, we have Simon Wolfson, Next, um, and others who just really understand the nature of the people working on the shop floor.

So Phil really understands the nature of the people working within his business, what they need, and if they are supported and cared for, then they'll care for the business in return.

And it's good to see that as a result of that, the business has grown and they're [laughs] they're, they're doing phenomenally well.

I wish a Lord Rose

or one of the great, I mean, Simon Wolfson, if he ever wants to step down, it would be incredible.

It's almost you need a minister for food, for retail, who understands the problems and what you can do.

But until you employ someone like that, if you're going to be a football manager, you've got to understand football.

You know, uh, you know, the head of Rolls-Royce and this sort of thing.

You know, we had lots of good private businesses, people like, you know, James Dyson and, um, Anthony Bamford of JCB, um, Simon Wolfson of Next, so some great corporate leaders, but also lots of SMEs, and SMEs are actually the biggest, you know, employer in the UK, so their voice should be heard within this debate.

Craig has brought up a few times this, um, CBI conference-

Sure

Mm.

See, this is where I think that most CEOs should take a leaf out of the guy that runs Next, Simon Wolfson.

Mm.

'Cause every year he comes out and he says, "Oh, we've beaten what we expected our estimates to be, but we won't do it next year because everything's terrible."