Working in the Stock Exchange as a 'blue button' at A. J. Bekhore, he established a reputation for dealing with the big players of the fringe banking world.
[2][3] Parnes built up the strategic shareholding in Debenhams for Ronson and Sir Philip Harris during Burton's fiercely contested bid for the department store group.
The vote went in favour of Burton after the bid had been extended from the 3 pm Friday deadline to the following Sunday in a special dispensation by the Takeover Panel.
Bekhor, Rowe Rudd and McNally, he became a "half commission" man (that is, an introducing broker) with Alexander Laing and Cruickshank.
[citation needed] Parnes' case was that a reasonable man with experience in the City would not at the time have regarded what he did as dishonest.
In 1995 Michael Heseltine, the then President of the Board of Trade, lifted a government "gagging order" preventing disclosure of evidence in the appeals of defendants in the Guinness case.