Monday, 30th of January 2012
Hester row leaves Cameron scarred
Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester's decision to turn down his controversial bonus, worth nearly £1m, has come too late to spare Chancellor George Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron’s blushes.
In fact, it only serves to leave the pair grounded on the wrong side of public opinion because despite what they were saying, by refusing to act, they were seen to be supportive of Hester’s bonus package.
The perception is that the Conservatives are still too close to their natural bed-mates the bankers to seriously want to do anything to threaten that relationship. Throughout this episode they’ve appeared weak and out of touch with public opinion.
Hester renounced the £963,000 shares-only payment after succumbing to enormous political pressure with Labour looking to force a vote on the issue in the House of Commons. A vote many felt they may have won given the opprobrium heaped on Hester (and the bonus culture he had come to represent) in recent days.
Today Osborne welcomed the news that Hester was to forgo this particular bonus as a "sensible and welcome" decision. Hester’s reputation may have been given a lift but the same cannot be said for his paymasters.
Actions, rather than words, are the only way the Tories are going to look like the white knights taking on the greedy. Question is do they have it in them to deliver. Lucky for them that the boys in the City are likely to give them very opportunity to prove how tough they really are on the bonus culture in the months ahead.
