6 Alistair Darling

Chancellor of the Exchequer (new entry)

Why he is on the list:

Less than a year into his new job as Chancellor, Alistair Darling has managed to become the industry's public enemy number one thanks to his swingeing excise duty increases in his first Budget.

What the past year has held:

Nobody really expected there to be much good news from Darling's budget, but few in the industry were prepared for the "double whammy" bombshell of a straight 4p-a-pint increase plus the 2%-over-inflation rate rise promised for the next four years.

Critics believe that Darling does not understand how the pub trade will be hit by his move, especially as the duty rises appear to have been largely absorbed by the major supermarkets.

Challenges ahead:

Darling may not care that he is unwelcome in every pub in Britain, but he may have cause to regret what he has done. The fall-out could yet come back to haunt him as pubs close and pub staff are laid off. Does he not understand that the pub and leisure industry is probably Britain's biggest employer of labour? Even the Government's own licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe, talking to MA editor Andrew Pring, thought Darling's punitive tax raid was unjust.