Oleg Deripaska had reason to be in ebullient form as the late August sun washed the grey steel hull and white aluminium superstructure of his yacht (above), the 72-metre Queen K, as it sat moored off the coast of Corfu. Russia’s richest man, who had made his money in metals, was in the middle of a nickel take-over battle but was taking time to throw a party on board for Britain’s political and business elite.