Michael Spencer was the Tory Treasurer before Peter Cruddas, here he is an interview he gave to the financial derivatives trade magazine Risk. He boasts in the interview that he knows the government will veto the tax the derivatives brokerage industry in London fears most:

Risk Magazine: You expect the Financial Transaction Tax debate to fade away. What happens if it doesn’t?

Michael Spencer: I have had it first-hand from very, very senior members of our administration who I know personally and have had good relations with for a long time, that it will be vetoed without any doubt and without any reservation at all.

Risk: Have you heard the same from other firms? Would there be an exodus?

MS: It’s not a matter of dinner-party conversation because genuinely we think if the French decide to go it alone in imposing an FTT we wish them every good fortune, but there is not a prayer in Hades that the UK will sign up for it.

Risk: And you heard that personally from a figure in the UK government?

MS: Yes, indeed.

Risk: Who?

MS: I’m not comfortable telling you who I speak to in private.

Guido is comfortable telling you…

The Prime Minister David Cameron told the City tycoon who owns ICAP, the biggest broker of financial transactions in London with the most to lose from the Financial Transaction Tax that he would personally veto the thing that would most damage his business.

Over dinner.