Here's a gag from Lord Adonis – though one he may wish he'd never made. Just 10 days ago, this is how the new Transport Secretary kicked off a speech to a roomful of railway industry executives. Richard Bowker, chief executive of National Express, won the bid two years ago with a pledge to pay _1.4bn to run the service until 2015 Photo: Cathal McNaughton "I come to you from, as I read in today's papers, what is the deceitful and dysfunctional Department for Transport presiding over a dog's breakfast. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm the deceitful and dysfunctional. You are the dog's breakfast." Adonis, who got a laugh, had taken his cue from Brian Souter, the Stagecoach chief executive. Two days earlier, Souter had rounded on Adonis's department for its "chaotic" handling of a £200m contract row over the company's South West... [read full story]
