Let the shareholders decide!

I remember in the 97 election the one good thing the Referendum Party came up with, was its slogan “Let the People Decide”. So much so, that more than one party has used it for its own end in recent years.

Today I have been reading the latest list of EDMs (not yet published online) and have come across two tabled by Mr Roger Godsiff. Now I don’t know Mr Godsiff - I am sure he is a great MP.

One I agree with, one I do not.

His first - EDM 1287 reads, “That this House views with disgust and incredulity the potential pay out of £760,000 to Adam Applegarth, the former Chief Executive of Northern Rock, who presided over the lending policy which bankrupted the bank; and believes that there is no justification for such a payment and that Mr Applegarth should be given the same redundancy package as is likely to be offered to the staff of the bank who are going to lose their jobs because of his incompetence and recklessness.”

Now I agree - given the bank is now owned by us the taxpayers, why on earth are WE giving him a pay off, because of the position he and his management team have put the bank in?

Mr Godsiff has then tabled another EDM - number 1290 which reads, “That this House records that the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow took over 15 years to plan and build and cost £4.5 billion and yet on its first day of operation the infrastructure at the airport went into meltdown with massive disruption of flights and huge customer inconvenience and dissatisfaction; notes that the Chief Executive of British Airways has taken full responsibility for the fiasco while making it abundantly clear that he has no intention of resigning despite the damage that has been done to the reputation of private enterprise and the country; and believes that chief executives of public limited companies should be held accountable for their actions and not rewarded for incompetence by clinging to their jobs”

Now Mr Godsiff is an MP, and Phillip Oppenheim, who has also written about this subject below was a trade minister, so perhaps they both know better than I, BUT I think they are wrong.

In the case of Northern Rock, we have a company rescued from the bring by Government. No Exec should get a pay off full stop.

In the case of BA, firstly I don’t believe all the fault lies with then. What about BAA? Secondly, BA is profitable. it makes money. It is a private company, and you know what - the Chief Exec is accountable - TO THE SHAREHOLDERS. So if they want to get rid of Willie Walsh, they can. If they think that actually what has happened is regrettable, but overall he is doing a good job, then you know what, that is down to them.

You see if I as a customer don’t like BA, I can choose to use someone else and vote with my feet. If I as a taxpayers don’t like what has happened with Northern Rock, well I can do sweet Fanny Adams!

Jonathan Sheppard