AH, how proud his father must feel! We hear that bright young graduate Felix Gummer, the son of Tory veteran John, has landed a splendid job with one of Britain’s most successful companies.

Felix is in the corporate-affairs department, beavering away on “community work”, overseeing his employer’s commendable involvement with the arts and suchlike.

But here’s the twist. The youthful master G’s job is with none other than Tesco — a company for which John Gummer, as environment secretary, caused such grief all those years ago by introducing planning laws that stopped supermarkets from peppering every ring road in Britain with a new store.

And, of course, in the decade since the Tories last had someone in Downing Street, Gummer Sr has become very green indeed, overseeing the creation of a new Conservative environmental agenda. We even hear that he was quietly but firmly supportive of campaigners in his Suffolk constituency who fought successfully to keep Tesco out of Saxmundham.

Tesco’s response? “Not a problem,” it says. “We’re very green these days.”

A reminder: Felix is the Gummer child who was spared having a beef-burger stuffed down his throat by his dad in 1990.

Black’s sign of the times

WHERE is YouTube when you need it?

Word reaches me of a fascinating video clip featuring Lord Black, the fallen press baron. Unfortunately, the tape has yet to make it online, but it is said to be sitting in the in-tray of prosecutors now sifting evidence before next month’s highly anticipated trial of Black on $80m (£41m) fraud charges — which he vehemently denies.

The video allegedly shows Black taking boxes from his former Toronto HQ. The courts had told him to return some items he had already taken. But these were personal effects. On the way out of the door a furious Black is said to give the CCTV the finger — the Black bird, so to speak. Maybe he was just pointing?

His lawyer didn’t return my call. Let’s allow the jury to decide.

- GOOD to see that the owners of Agent Provocateur, the lingerie company, have a sense of humour. The retailer has just filed its latest accounts (it recorded a small pretax loss), but in the commentary accompanying the numbers, director and co-owner Joseph Corré writes: “Following the recent change in financial-reporting requirements and the necessity for the directors’ report to include considered and meaningful comment on the financial statements, this will hopefully assist the perennial journalistic, nay voyeuristic, interpretation of the financial results of the finest lingerie retailer in the world!” I wonder to whom they could be referring? nLAST week I revealed that General Electric was being attacked by a hedge fund for its green policies. I said I hoped GE would fight the Free Enterprise Action Fund. Well here’s someone who will.

I’m told Larry Simms, a former partner at lawyers Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, took all this to heart and sent the fund’s managers an e-mail saying: “On behalf of [GE’s chief executive] Jeff Immelt and other sane people at GE, I say f**k you.”

It has embarrassed the law firm — but is surely worth it.

True rag to richest tale

THE ever-fragmenting magazine market is all about finding niches, and three successful entrepreneurs think they have found one. Jeremy Isaac, former chief executive of publisher Highbury House, has teamed up with Annoushka Ducas, founder of Links of London, and Mark Esiri, chairman of Smythson, to launch Country House. The new mag, which will be given away, targets affluent Londoners who spend their weekends in the country. If you have an exclusive postcode in the capital, you can expect to see the first issue this week. It will be packed with “beautiful” country houses and is being edited by Lucy Cleland, previously at Condé Nast. Don’t forget to pack a copy when you load up the 4x4 on Friday.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive