7 AUGUST 1999, Page 20

Lombard life

I AM sorry that Matt Barrett, Barclays' new chief executive from Montreal, is not bringing the Mark II Mrs Barrett with him. When I met her she was wearing a ball-gown, but her wardrobe also includes a fur bikini for those cold Quebec winters. (The summers are warmer.) Now the Bar- retts are demerging, and when Mr Barrett was spotted in Barclays' head office, he was accompanied by a personal assistant and a bodyguard. I see scope for a City soap opera, to be called 'The Barretts of Lombard Street'.