That's the only response to the Fred the Shred pension. So it's appalling and everyone hates him for it? Certainly. But - tough. Suck it up. Goodwin has the law of contract on his side. Moreover, and embarrassingly for the government, his contract was finalised with the consent of a Treasury minister appointed by the Prime Minister.
The Devil has it right, and Iain Dale needs to have little rethink.
Brown, Darling, Timms, and all the other government gobshites who have spent the last 36 hours playing to the gallery on this, ought to consider very carefully before they threaten to overturn property law, which is the basis for all transactions - all - in this country, in the EU, and in every other civilised society.
Today's deluge of hypocritical merde was nothing less than a smoke-screen so that the truly Titanic disaster of RBS and this government's helpless flailings would be pushed out of the headlines.
The rabble-rousing, lynch-the-bankers campaign of the tabloids, whipping up the public's justifiable anger (and fears) is playing right into Brown's soiled hands.
Today's fulminations about 'legal remedies' when on the face of it there are none - and you can bet that Fred has the best lawyers working on his behalf - serve as yet more proof that this government is dangerous. The Labour Party in office has proved itself completely unscrupulous. When it suits them, they hold the law itself in contempt.
We have reached the stage where, if you embarrass this government or if they make a gross cock-up, they will now threaten you with an Act of Parliament all to yourself by which to remove your common law rights and your property. So much for the law. It's bloody mediaeval.
I have no confidence whatsoever that, should we face major civil unrest as result of this recession/depression and/or the banking collapse, this government will obey the law.
Brown would like nothing better than to declare a State of Emergency and postpone the general election sine die, thereby both entrenching himself and the Labour Party in office and preventing his worst nightmare coming true, that of ceding the office of Prime Minister to the Conservative, David Cameron. I doubt there are any lengths to which this vain and deluded man would not go to, that end.
Today's baying for the lynching of Fred Goodwin was disgraceful. And I don't like his bloody pension arrangement any more than anyone else. But along with everyone else (including you, George Osborne), I have to accept that there is nothing to be done about it as long as the rule of law prevails
"What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? ... And when the law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's, and if you cut them down -- and you're just the man to do it -- do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!" - Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons
I'm afraid you're making the same mistake as many others.
ReplyDeleteFred only has the law of contract on his side as far as his pension scheme allowed.
A major slice of his pension - and the fact that he is receiving it now and not having to wait to normal retirement age - was a DISCRETIONARY decision to persuade him to go early from RBS.
That discretion should be overturned.
In fact, this discretionary part was not needed since he should have been summarily dismissed for gross incompetence (what else would you call trashing the bank?) without compensation.
Then he could have received his contractual pension - at 60.
No. As soon as the final documents were signed, the discretionary section became another contract, and it is protected by the law. Whether we like it or not, Goodwin has the law on his side.
ReplyDeleteThe root fault in the whole mess is negligence by the government and its agents. They gave Goodwin the bum's rush without bothering with details. Headless chicken syndrome. Again.
That Goodwin benefits may not be justice, but it is the law and the government has a duty to uphold the law as well as to protect the citizenry from injustice by being deliberate in its actions which, in this case as in much else, it has not been.
Their pillorying of Goodwin is merely mendacious cover for their own delinquency.
The Chancellor and his Treasury team should resign.
I've included this post in my Subrosa's Super Seven this week.http://tinyurl.com/czrfpr
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