Concern is mounting over the whereabouts of John Lawson after the Aviva pensions policy wonk mysteriously went missing ahead of the Budget.
Lawson, renowned for his acerbic commentary and ability to pluck newsworthy numbers out of thin air, is understood to have flown to Istanbul days before Chancellor George Osborne announced the biggest pensions overhaul for almost 100 years.
And to rub salt into the wound, the Scot saw his former Standard Life apprentice, Andy Tully, steal the limelight at sister title Money Marketing on the biggest news day of the financial services calendar.
Tully refused to comment on speculation that he had sent Lawson to Turkey, bound and gagged, in order to secure his own place on MM’s prestigious Budget panel.
A weathered MM hack says: “John has let me down, big time.
“Every time I leave a message on his mobile, I get a phonecall from the Aviva press office declining to comment on anything remotely linked to anything.”
Aviva declined to comment.
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