Richard Descoings

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Londres calling

By Emiliya Mychasuk and Emiko Terazono

Published: September 26 2009 03:00 | Last updated: September 26 2009 03:00

The French invaded the House of Commons this week, as Baron David de Rothschild led the London-based alumni of Sciences Po, the Paris grande école, into the members’ dining room.

Dressed in « costume de ville », the notable French expats included Jean-Pierre Mustier , the Société Générale investment bank boss who quit this summer.

Baron de Rothschild said he would not depress the audience by discussing the financial crisis, or titillate with tales of a steamy affair with a Princess of Cardiff, as former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing had in a new book. Instead he spoke about the Rothschilds’ unification of its French and British arms, and his early years at NM Rothschild in London.

« When I arrived at the bank in London, the English accepted me, probably because they said to themselves that a Frenchman called Rothschild was better than just a plain old Frenchman, » he said.

The financiers in the audience, including Goldman Sachs’ Charles de Croisset, applauded heartily . The coup of securing Baron de Rothschild went to Sciences Po director Richard Descoings , an ally of French president Nicolas Sarkozy , and Veni Partners headhunter Stephane Rambosson , attracting other prominent guests such as the French ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne.