According to media reports he is a careers advisor’s dream, a perfect role model for disenfranchised Black youth and the bane of the modern GMB union.

The unions claim private equity firms like Buffini’s Permira are parasites that prey on vulnerable companies, buy them, streamline them and sell them off for profit at great cost to the average worker – some of whom lose their jobs in the process. That Buffini has made a hefty but honest living out of it over the years as a direct result of obviously being good at what he does is of little or no consequence to union bosses. It was they after all who brought the 43-year-old to the public notice after singling him out for blame over job losses. It’s well documented that he was brought up on a council estate in the Leicester by a single mother and battled his way to the top, against the odds. He attended Gateway Sixth Form College , Leicester doing A-levels in economics, history and English literature before winning a place at Cambridge . Now, not only is he ranked among the city’s top movers and shakers, he is suggested to be the most powerful Black man in Britain .

Gateway vice principal Steve Martin says of Buffini: “He was a bright lad and a good all-round student and sportsman – very outgoing.

“In economics, he was always keen to challenge ideas, but there was nothing about him to suggest he’d become a multimillionaire.”

Martin added: “A few years back, there was a reunion and Damon arrived in a chauffeur-driven limo, but once he stepped out of the car, he was just one of the lads again.”

The Independent newspaper wrote in February 2007: “Buffini is the most important person you've probably never heard of. He is the managing partner of Europe 's biggest private equity firm. He lives in Wandsworth, southwest London , works in the City, and looks like a normal member of the pin-striped professional class.

“But looks can be deceptive. Buffini is an outgoing father-of-two, who enjoys a pint and plays football at the weekend. He also boasts a staggering power and influence, together with a personal fortune of £100m.”