At the annual conference of Britain's ruling Conservative Party, it was impossible to miss Charlie Mullins.
He was the one with dyed blond hair, heavily tanned, wearing the loudest blue suit imaginable and a tie with a vast knot in the same startling, garish hue.
He was accompanied by an entourage as he wove his way through the gathering, nodding and shaking hands with anyone. More ageing pop star than politician, he was there to push the case for the UK remaining in the EU.
He was the cheeky chappie, the good-time Charlie, who spoke how he saw it in his native Sarf London twang. There was something bouncy, energetic and refreshing about Mullins, certainly in that setting.
Not for him the playing fields of Eton and the quadrangles of Oxford. He left school at 15 with no qualifications, the son of a factory worker and a cleaner.
He got a job as a plumber’s assistant. By the age of 27 he had set up his own business, Pimlico Plumbers, the company that has the vans with the jokey registration plates and are decked out in the same vivid colour as his suit.
This week, Mullins, 68, sold his 90 per cent stake for more than £100 million ($136.3m). One of his sons, Scott, will run the company as chief executive. Scott will own 10 per cent of Pimlico Plumbers, which will now belong to US services group Neighborly.
To my mind, Mullins is living proof that if you work hard enough, if you maintain a fierce will and discipline, you can succeed. It's not guaranteed – you may require a degree of good fortune along the way – but there’s also the adage that you make your own luck.
I’ve met Mullins several times. Behind the cockiness and mateyness, however, I’ve always known there to be someone of determination and steel. His is a business, after all, that makes £50.7m a year and employs 400 staff. Show me a plumber who nets that sort of money.
Mullins has expanded beyond straightforward plumbing – now he’s branching out to bathrooms, electrics, heating and cleaning drains. In all, his blue vans are racing to 100,000 jobs at central London homes and businesses every year.
Behind the cockiness and mateyess, however, I’ve always known there to be someone of determination and steel
Neighborly plan to expand the Pimlico Plumbers formula nationally and internationally. The founder, meanwhile, who has been spending much of his time in Dubai, will only say he is going to invest in music promotion and overseas property.
Business and management schools may turn their noses up at Mullins but if anyone qualifies as an industry disruptor it is Charlie. When he started out, he was armed with a second-hand van and a box of tools. Overalls, if they were worn, were scruffy and dirty.
Some odd-jobs people are still like that. They turn up at your house and when you answer the door you seriously think twice about letting them in. But not so many these days.
Thanks to Mullins, an entire sector has smartened up. His workers wear neat polo shirts and clean boiler suits. They’re polite and say please and thank you, their hands are scrubbed and they don’t swear. They don’t slink off for a crafty fag or a sneaky pint in the pub – they stay and finish the work. They tidy up after themselves.
They do so on pain of being fired. He’s a tough nut is Mullins. His employees must be double-jabbed against Covid – no vax, no job. His line is that they’re going into homes and offices, often into poorly ventilated rooms, so it is only right they’re vaccinated.
He’s had his scrapes has Mullins; he’s lived it large. But don’t be fooled. I remember the first occasion when I went to his yard not far from Elephant & Castle where he grew up (he called it Pimlico because the name sounded posher) and being struck as to how spotless everything was. Equipment, vehicles, personnel – there was no messing about.
His method was calculating. Take the registrations: around me were the distinctive vans bearing the logo and numbers such as BOG1, LOO 2 WET, FLU55H. Over the years, he’s spent more than £1m on the plates alone. His thinking is clear: it adds to the branding, the identity. They make people smile and that’s a good thing; they’ve a warm attitude towards Pimlico Plumbers. If they can’t recall the name, they know it’s the one with the funny vans. After that, finding the company and the contact details is easy.
What it amounts to is that he’s been able to charge more. His rates are at the top end but, as he would say, you pay for what you get. He spends heavily on training. Pimlico Plumbers, he will tell you, don’t cut corners, will not do a botched job. If they must be called back for whatever reason, they go back, no questions asked – they won’t say they’re now on another assignment and cannot return.
That’s what he maintains. There are some who say Pimlico over-promotes, that for all the polish and marketing, they’re still plumbers and that really, they’re little different from the others. To which the answer is, again, find me another who makes Mullins’ cash.
The exact details of the deal with Neighborly are shrouded in secrecy. For once, the voluble Mullins is keeping quiet. What he will say, though, is that “I won’t need to clean any more blocked drains. I had to make a decision whether I wanted to work for another five to 10 years to grow the business [but] Neighborly can take it to the next level.”
He’s also had a good pandemic, with people WFH and having to call upon his company’s services.
Mullins once said: “I don’t like banks they’re crooks in suits”. That hasn’t prevented him taking a mighty pot of lucre off Neighborly, which is owned by the (non-crooked) financial wizards at ultra-smart, private equity powerhouse, KKR.
For all his talk, he’s not one to turn down an opportunity is Charlie.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg
Ajax v Real Madrid, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Section 375
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra & Rahul Bhat
Director: Ajay Bahl
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak & SCIPL
Rating: 3.5/5
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
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SPEC%20SHEET
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M2%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%20up%20to%2010-core%20CPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2013.6-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%2C%202560%20x%201664%2C%20224ppi%2C%20500%20nits%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20wide%20colour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%2F16%2F24GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStorage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201%2F2TB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thunderbolt%203%20(2)%2C%203.5mm%20audio%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wi-Fi%206%2C%20Bluetooth%205.0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2052.6Wh%20lithium-polymer%2C%20up%20to%2018%20hours%2C%20MagSafe%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECamera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201080p%20FaceTime%20HD%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Support%20for%20Apple%20ProRes%2C%20HDR%20with%20Dolby%20Vision%2C%20HDR10%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204-speaker%20system%2C%20wide%20stereo%2C%20support%20for%20Dolby%20Atmos%2C%20Spatial%20Audio%20and%20dynamic%20head%20tracking%20(with%20AirPods)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Silver%2C%20space%20grey%2C%20starlight%2C%20midnight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20MacBook%20Air%2C%2030W%20or%2035W%20dual-port%20power%20adapter%2C%20USB-C-to-MagSafe%20cable%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh4%2C999%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.6-litre turbo
Transmission: six-speed automatic
Power: 165hp
Torque: 240Nm
Price: From Dh89,000 (Enjoy), Dh99,900 (Innovation)
On sale: Now
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
