Sounds like its time for Mr B to sell the race car and concentrate on business!!
I must admit Im surprised about the whole "difficult trading conditions" thing- Nationwide are very well positioned in the market- they sit squarly between the low cost and the full service operators- so they can play in both arenas very well. By all accounts they are not doing to badly on the revenue front so maybe the boss should drop the whole act and share a little good fortune with the people who work for him!