Ex-bank chairman buying drugs - time for an end to the old boys network?

I have always called them 'The Suits' - directors and CEO's who appear from another industry or profession, but waltz into a Company and promptly start changing everything. They 'consolidate' - that is, close down factories, branches, or outlets, and 'release' staff - at the AGM they proudly announce what a large amount has been saved, and profits are up accordingly.
Twelve months later, as a result of their increasing profits, they have been offered a bigger,better paid job, and have moved on. Unfortunately, the Company they left has sunk back into recession - they are struggling to cope with their diminished capacities.

I worked in the London Insurance market, dealing with huge British and US corporations, and by golly, over the years, did I meet some great examples of The Suits - and often my colleagues and I sat in a meeting wondering how the hell some of these pig-ignorant people had ever been given the reins of the companies they were purportedly running.

And as for politicians, and their qualifications,ability, and morals..........well, that's another story - much too long and boring to go through here, and I'm sure you all know that particular tale as well as me!

They think themselves above the law because, to all intents and purposes, most of them are and get away with all kinds of corruption, cheating and bad behaviour. At worst, they lose one of their "part time" directorships and are seen off with a golden farewell before sashaying into another one.

There is a web site which follows these suits around and also what their husbands and wives do. my personal favorite was a hospital porter whose only qualification was an o level in carpentry who was made a manager of a trust up here .

oo lets have the link stansgran.

Of course this suit came to prominence by another route (source BBC website)

1976: Starts as Methodist minister in Bradford
1988-92: Labour councillor on Rochdale Council
2002-11: Labour councillor on Bradford Council
2009: Joins board of Co-op Bank and Co-op Group

So for this we should perhaps blame the traditional-left old boys network, because it was the Co-op bank - but the other directors who agreed to this appointment (and probably suggested him) must have had a fuzzy grip on what the job required. Long an dishonourable tradition in certain areas of labour politicians scratching each others backs, just like old Etonians.

... and adviser to Ed Miliband.

Ethical banking is an oxymoron of mammoth proportions! Who you are and who you know is the only criteria these days certainly not how good at a job you are. That just gets you made redundant because all that experience and knowledge makes those in power fear for their jobs. The ego of some bosses is just staggering.

I am sure we have all probably met these 'suits' in out various jobs and have had to suffer their inflated egos and lack of knowledge. It is quite easy to see why they were employed as 'gift of the gab' is the only gift many of them have but how do we, the workers at the coal face, get rid of them ?

Labour old-boys network - I used to meet some of them at education conferences - mostly from 'old' Labour strongholds - who knew FA about education. But I have to say I preferred them to some of the slick 'new' Labour councillors I came across. I wonder if I might have run across Paul Flowers at that time and which camp did he belong to? Would he have been one of the ones who habitually addressed me as 'luv' or one who addressed me as 'Councillor'?

I'm catching up with this thread after a long, refreshing walk. I almost wish I hadn't logged on as reading the above comments is so depressing. I share the negative views expressed above about old/new labour politicians, but I'd add conservative and libdem councillors as well who are equally involved in the old boy/girl networks. I don't want to become totally cynical about the motivations of those who become local or national politicians, but so many of them seem more motivated by self interest, than any positive influence they can bring for their constituents.
What are we to do? I can't see myself doing as Russell Brand suggests, and not voting.

I was supposed to be doing a long refreshing walk but the weather is so foul.

I've given thought in the past to not voting - a deliberate abstention.

My mother famously wrote on her voting card, none of the above.

I have some savings in Triodos Bank, no current account at present but they hope to have one soon.

I have been to several of their AGMs and returned home quite inspired, small but very ethical.

It gets worse according to the news today. He resigned from Lifeline, a drugs charity, after being found to have attempted to/or succeeded in obtaining £150,000 by falsifying his expenses. It's also said, he paid for hotel rooms where he indulged in drug fuelled sex with young male prostitutes, by using his Co-op Expense Account. He resigned as a councillor in Rochdale some years ago, after 'inappropriate but not illegal' pornography was found on his work lap top when he took it in for repair.

I have no problem with his homosexuality, very little problem if his time off/holiday life involved rather too much alcohol, even a bit of drug use, providing no one was hurt and he was sober and focussed during whatever his work life demanded of him. I have a huge problem with the level of deception, sense of entitlement and hypocrisy that seems to have been the major part of this man's approach to life over many, many years.

I worked closely with Lifeline during the late 1970's, early 1980's, and I know how difficult it was for them to put this charity together and keep it going. It makes me so angry to think of this man trying to fiddle such a huge amount of money out of this organisation.

It seems he was allowed to resign, or step down rather than be dismissed in the case of the lap top, or prosecuted in the case of the expenses fraud. Those two examples in themselves would make me wary of trusting an individual who had shown such a lack of control (porn) or attempt at criminal fraud (expenses). If these facts weren't known to those responsible for giving him the post at the Co-op, I wonder why not. It all feels a bit like the Jimmy Saville issue, ie everyone but no-one knew

How on earth can anyone manage to drum up £150k expenses from Lifeline? They lived on a shoestring for many years, probably still do. If this is correct, he could have brought that organisation to its knees. How many more fat cats are bleeding struggling charities and welfare organisations dry now, I wonder.

Not to mention Rochdale councillor nominating him as governor of a primary school after the laptop incident.
I don't think this smells of deliberate cover up - the laptop incident would have led to severe disciplinary action if he had been, for example, a teacher and was fully informed about the IT policies, but as a councillor he could not be 'sacked' and it is possible that only a few people knew (e.g. not the people who managed the governor service) . It was not a crime only a potential breach of policy.
I can also understand, just about, why a charity did not go to the police if the case as not clear - though that amount of money paid to a trustee of a charity would surely have been unusual? Normally trustees claim nothing??? They might have quaked at the thought of their potential legal bills?
The thing that still staggers me is how someone with so little to recommend him in terms of his CV ever got to be on the board of the bank let alone the other directors agreeing to his being chair. Was the board stacked with old-style left-wingers who knew sod-all about running a bank?
It is entirely possible of course that sitting behind all this is a nasty old-labour-boys network who not only scratched each others backs but knew each others dirty secrets.

There's something fishy about this man's association with Lifeline. I wonder how many drug-using clients he has had personal involvement with.

Alternativegran Thank you - I was trying to remember the name of Triodos. I've heard good things about it, and, though we're loathe to leave the Co-op after 40+ years we may have a look at Triodos.

So, do you trust your Methodist Minister anymore? Who knows what they may be up to behind their dog collars! This whole situation really poses some very serious questions about those 'in power' and how they get away with so much.

Not sure where you live Eloethan but Triodos is based in Bristol, if you wanted to pop in and ask questions.

Seems the PM is also asking "how did this bank appointment happen?" Not sure if he is wanting to make political capital though. But people in Osborne's dept were encouraging the Co-op bank in their bid to take over Lloyds branches and the FSA (now defunct) could have thrown a spanner into appointments as well.
I wonder if part of the problem is that the Co-op bank saw itself as "ethical" and therefore was reluctant to appoint directors who were knowledgeable but, in their eyes, tainted by having worked for other banks. So they did not get in people with the expertise needed.
It was the new MD of The Co-operative Group, Euan Sutherland, who had joined from Kingfisher in May this year (big retailer inc B and Q) , who started to ask questions about Flowers, if I have the understood story straight.

I still can't understand how someone with no experience could be appointed as Chair of the co-op Bank. Was this appointment based more on his high profile and networking abilities, so the lack of any banking experience didn't matter. This is a genuine question by the way, I'm not being sarcastic, just a bit puzzled.
He seems to be claiming he only took to drugs in 2010, after his mother died. However, he had a drink driving conviction in 1981, which suggests he's long had a tendency to indulge his appetites and take risks. I suspect there is more to come about his lifestyle as he doesn't seem to have made much effort to present himself, as anything other than what he is. Often a good smoke screen isn't it.
Currently, although I feel his lifestyle left him wide open to the kind of press exposure he's getting, I do feel some sympathy for the way his life is imploding. He seems to have believed he could live his life as he chose, with no regard to the law, the any of the moral or ethical foundations society depends on. If it emerges that he's used his power and influence in organisations like the church, or Lifeline the drug charity to exploit or abuse vulnerable young people, my sympathy for his personal downfall with disappear.

I don't think anyone is particularly concerned with this man's private life unpleasant and sordid as it would appear to be. Lots of celebs and others are on drugs and provided his 'night' life is with consenting adults, THAT presumably is his business. But apart from the absudity of him running a bank with NO expertise at all, the main thing I find absolutely horrid is the fact that he was/is a Methodist minister, the sort of person that people, young and old go to in time of trouble or look to for advise and guidence. What a betrayal of your congregation and fellow human beings that, together with fact that he actually portrayed a painting of Our
Lord sitting with his followers with the vilest of captions. I for one, find this quite shocking and blasphemus. What an AWFUL man.