Guy Hands knows a thing or two about difficult finances. His recent purchase of record company EMI was followed by exiting artists, massive financial losses and litigation of various sorts.

But he is a man that knows how to put finances first – he moved to Guernsey last year after the proposed introduction of the 50% tax on high earners. And was keen to ensure nothing jeopardised his offshore status.

The Times: In a letter to Terra Firma’s investors yesterday, accompanying the firm’s annual report, Mr Hands warned: “The UK will clearly suffer a long and painful period as it unwinds this level of leverage [debt] over the next decade. If it fails to clean up its balance sheet, the UK could find itself cast into a category with the weakest states in Europe.”

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Cleaning up balance sheets – perhaps he can give the government a demo with EMI.