SHAREHOLDER EXECUTIVE

[baldrick]

Big cheques in the post

Where did the ruthlessly commercial approach to Britain's post offices,
and with it the massive closure programme come from?

The current policy originates in the government's Shareholder Executive,
announced by Gordon Brown in 2002 with the task to "better fulfil [the
government's] role as shareholder" of 25 publicly-owned companies like
Royal Mail. Its target, on which the bosses' bonuses depended was to
increase the value of the six largest companies by £1bn by 2007.

Out went any notion that public corporations were also there to provide a
public service. The men brought in for the job, first led by ex- CFSB
investment banker Richard Gillingwater and now by former Deutsche Bank
analyst Stephen Lovegrove, duly hit the target.

This was achieved largely by boosting the financial (if not service) results
at Royal Mail following the installation of senior management, including chief
executive Adam Crozier, on multi-million bonuses for boosting profits without
penalty for service shortcomings. Unsurprisingly, under Crozier and Co, closures
and redundancies have been the order of the day.

Not only do the Sharehoder Executive bosses have a financial interest in
slashing postal services, they are responsible for the advice ministers get on the
Post Office generally, somewhat compromising the neutral, objective traditions
of the Civil Service. Small wonder the result was a sweeping programme to close
2,500 post offices judged by the suits to be surplus to requirements.

When Commons public accounts committee chairman Edward Leigh MP asked the
then Shareholder Executive boss Martin Bryant last year if he was therefore
"responsible for trailing a blaze [sic] of destruction across my constituency",
Bryant replied: "I could not possibly answer that, sir". A correct answer might have
been a simple yes, though ultimate responsibility rests with the man who decided
six years ago that the bankers should be brought in to put the squeeze on public
companies.

[baldrick]

The above news clipping was on the CMA notice board at work.
Not sure where it's from, but it might be from Private Eye.

[BELIAL]

Perhaps a strike over pensions might upset that particular applecart then?