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Osborne’s false prophet: why Jim O’Neill will never deliver a ‘northern powerhouse’

The economist entrusted with reviving the North is a Goldman Sachs B-teamer who spouts airline-lounge nonsense

4 July 2015

9:00 AM

4 July 2015

9:00 AM

For the final three years of his 18-year career at Goldman Sachs, Jim O’Neill, the Treasury’s new commercial secretary with responsibility for developing the Northern Powerhouse, served as chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the company’s least-regarded and most bothersome unit. While two younger executives ran the business, O’Neill was dispatched to faraway conferences to bore audiences of docile suits with his views on whether Nigeria or Malaysia offered a better investment opportunity.

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