Bain drain

London Business School principal George Bain is stepping down - apparently for fear that he may start to spoil his own good work.

"I am a firm believer that more institutions are ruined by people at the top staying on too long than by people leaving early," he has said. Bain wants to leave by July 1998 at the latest. It is anticipated that the school governors will appoint a committee to find a replacement at their meeting next month.

The prospect of a Blair government is not likely to harm his chances of getting interesting retirement appointments. He chaired the Labour-friendly commission on public policy and British business, whose public renown is based almost entirely on accusations of insanity levelled at the commissioners by Michael Heseltine.