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| Politics live blog: PMQs, Fred Goodwin reaction and Nick Clegg on Lords reform | Politics live blog: PMQs, Fred Goodwin reaction and Nick Clegg on Lords reform |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 10.13am: This is what Nick Clegg had to say about the House of Lords in his "Open Society" speech at the end of last year. | |
Lloyd George described the House of Lords as being "a body of five hundred men chosen at random from amongst the unemployed". To be honest, it might be better if it was. Of course among our peers there are those with valuable experience and expertise. | |
| But a veneer of expertise can surely no longer serve as an alibi for a chamber which legislates on behalf of the people – but is not held to account by the people. The Lords as currently constituted is an affront to the principles of openness which underpin a modern democracy. | |
| Now he's about to give evidence to the Lords constitution committee, on Lords reform and other matters. I'll be covering it in detail. | |
| 10.00am: If David Cameron thought that the decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood would receive a postive write-up in the press, he was wrong. The papers are surprisingly critical. I've been looking at all the editorials. The Guardian and the Daily Express have not written leaders on the subject, but all the other national papers have and, of those, all the "broadsheet" papers are critical - sometimes very critical. The Daily Mail, which campaigned for Goodwin to lose his knighthood, is pleased, obviously. But the Sun, which would would expect to welcome the move, sounds relatively neutral, and the Daily Mirror is ambivalent too. | |
| Here's a summary. | |
| Papers which are critical | |
| The Times (paywall) | |
| There is a strong case for a proper legal investigation into the activity of the financial services industry leading to the crash. A proper public inquiry into what happened is long overdue. | |
| Such an investigation might easily lead to prosecutions and convictions. Those found guilty can then be dealt with in the usual way. In a country ruled by laws, that is how things happen. People then know both how to behave and also the consequences of their behaviour. They know where they stand. They do not fear arbitrary justice. This is the essence of liberty. | |
| What has happened to Mr Goodwin stands in contrast to that. It is the selection of an individual for public humiliation, and the changing of the rules just for him in order to make sure he is properly humiliated. Due process is replaced by the rule of the mob. A committee meeting is quickly convened and comes up with an answer that is politically convenient for everybody and appeases the public mood. And all this is much more disturbing than allowing an arrogant businessman to retain a knighthood that he did not deserve in the first place. | |
| Having an honours system may seem unecessary. A dishonours system seems sinister. | |
| The Independent | |
| More than anything else, the absurd treatment of Mr Goodwin – added to the furore over Stephen Hester's bonus – damages nothing as much as it damages Britain. It sends out the profoundly off-putting signal that Britain is anti-business and anti-wealth, a culture of harboured grudges, public vindictiveness and mob rule. At a time when the economy is more exposed than ever to the chill winds of global competition, when growth rates are stagnant at best, if not heading back into recession, it is the worst possible image to convey. Stripping Mr Goodwin of his knighthood is crass, childish, and wholly counter-productive. | |
| The Daily Telegraph | |
| Why – as we asked last week – is the Honours Forfeiture Committee, a shadowy and allegedly independent body, not now looking into the peerages of Lord Archer (jailed for perjury), or Lords Hanningfield and Taylor (both jailed for expenses fraud)? It has surely exceeded its remit, which is to act only when an individual "has been found guilty by the courts of a criminal offence… or has been censured/struck off etc by the relevant regulatory authority or professional body for actions or failures to act which are directly relevant to the granting of the honour". In America, if executives are suspected of committing an offence, they are tried and dealt with severely. Here, in the absence of any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, we choose ritual humiliation instead. | |
| It has been a disastrous few days for this country's reputation as an attractive place for financiers and businessmen. First, Stephen Hester, the new boss of RBS, was forced to relinquish his bonus; now Mr Goodwin has been dragged to the stocks. David Cameron and the other leading politicians who have encouraged this populist bloodlust should be ashamed of themselves. Now that the precedent has been set, the mob will want more, because it always does. So who will be next? | |
| The Financial Times (subscription) | |
| True, there is more than a whiff of rough justice and political calculation here. Mr Goodwin can point to the fact that the Financial Services Authority did not take any action against him, in spite of a lengthy investigation. Others who have committed serious offences have not lost their honours. Lord Archer, the popular novelist who served a jail term for perjury, remains in the House of Lords. | |
| But Mr Goodwin has contributed to his own misfortune by his unrepentant demeanour since the collapse of RBS. Having disdained public opinion, he cannot complain about becoming a target for public opprobrium and for a prime minister eager to deflect attention to still-outsized bankers' bonuses. | |
| The quondam Sir Fred was hardly the only titled banker to mess up before the crash. His humbling is a reminder that there has never been a proper accounting for the crisis, and very few prosecutions, unlike in the US. Much better if the courts and regulators rather than the honours forfeiture committee were leading the charge against pre-crash failings. | |
| Papers which are supportive | |
| Daily Mail | |
| When the Mail first reported MPs' demands that Fred Goodwin should be stripped of his knighthood, we warned that such decisions should be reserved strictly for the most exceptional cases. | |
| Otherwise, we argued, the honours system could all too easily be abused as a means of settling old political scores, with governments cancelling the garlands bestowed by their predecessors. | |
| We believed, however, that the case for making an example of the then Sir Fred was indeed exceptional and compelling ... | |
| Bankers themselves are looking forward to stuffing their pockets with another round of massive bonuses. | |
| Mr Goodwin's fate should teach them that today they have a clear choice. It lies between the dishonour of selfish greed – and their duty to help this nation out of the crisis they caused. | |
| Papers which are ambivalent | |
| The Daily Mirror | |
David Cameron did what he always does when he's in trouble... spin. | |
| The timing of Fred Goodwin's lost knighthood is decidedly suspicious, reeking of a diversionary tactic by a rattled PM. | |
| Experience and circumstantial evidence lead us to wonder if the man who broke the bank was last night made plain Mr Goodwin to deflect public attention from Mr Cameron's ham-fisted handling of the bonus row. | |
| That said, Goodwin deserved to lose his knighthood. And the stripping of honours should not end with the shamed former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland. | |
| The Sun | |
So the poster boy for reckless, greedy gamblers is finally stripped of the knighthood Labour gave him. | |
| Fred The Shred's arrogance and incompetence cost taxpayers £45billion and helped plunge us into recession. | |
| His much-lauded "services to banking" proved to be services to bankruptcy. | |
| Sir Fred may now be just plain Fred. | |
| But with a £6,500-a-week pension to fall back on, he's still laughing all the way to the bonk, sorry, bank. | |
| 9.47am: The Institute of Directors has warned that the Goodwin decision could fuel "anti-business hysteria". The BBC has the full story. | |
| 9.41am: Jim Pickard was not impressed by what Michael Fallon (left), the Conservative deputy chairman (and a member of the Commons Treasury committee) had to say about the Goodwin decision this morning. (See 9.35am.) Here's the key quote from Fallon. I've taken it from PoliticsHome. | |
| This decision hasn't been done on a whim. It is three and a half years after the collapse and follows a detailed response by the [Financial Services Authority]. It came out before Christmas. Our own reviewer said the report amounted to censure. Ministers don't control the timings of the forfeiture committee. This is an entirely independent committee of civil servants. There are no politicians on the committee. They are there to monitor the integrity of the system and make sure those given honours continue to deserve them, which in this case [Fred Goodwin] didn't. They are also making clear this was an exceptional case, because of the scale and severity of what he did as chief executive of RBS. | |
| 9.35am: Here's some Twitter comment on the Goodwin decision. | 9.35am: Here's some Twitter comment on the Goodwin decision. |
| From the Guardian's Patrick Wintour | From the Guardian's Patrick Wintour |
| Kerslake head of civil service needs to explain himself in public. At moment he looks like a stooge for populism. | Kerslake head of civil service needs to explain himself in public. At moment he looks like a stooge for populism. |
| From the FT's Jim Pickard | From the FT's Jim Pickard |
| Michael fallon tells today that the forfeiture committee was independent of political pressure. Sure. Of course. #today | Michael fallon tells today that the forfeiture committee was independent of political pressure. Sure. Of course. #today |
| From the Independent on Sunday's John Rentoul | From the Independent on Sunday's John Rentoul |
| I tried to explain to a normal person why Fred Goodwin had lost his knighthood. Failed. Shows why it is a bad idea. | I tried to explain to a normal person why Fred Goodwin had lost his knighthood. Failed. Shows why it is a bad idea. |
| 9.24am: On the Today programme Sir Jackie Stewart (left), a friend of Goodwin's, popped up to defend the former RBS boss. Stewart said that he had not spoken to Goodwin since the decision was announced yesterday - Goodwin's mobile is switched off, apparently - but he said that RBS had made £11bn a year for Britain in the good days. This is what he said when he was asked how Goodwin would be feeling about the loss of his K. I've taken the quote from PoliticsHome. | 9.24am: On the Today programme Sir Jackie Stewart (left), a friend of Goodwin's, popped up to defend the former RBS boss. Stewart said that he had not spoken to Goodwin since the decision was announced yesterday - Goodwin's mobile is switched off, apparently - but he said that RBS had made £11bn a year for Britain in the good days. This is what he said when he was asked how Goodwin would be feeling about the loss of his K. I've taken the quote from PoliticsHome. |
| I should think he is very, very disappointed first of all. I should think very sad that he has lost this, because when you receive a knighthood it if from Her Majesty and is for what you have done. There are different opinions on that, but is a dangerous precedent, because if this is the case who else is up for having a knighthood or any other honour of that kind removed, just because something happened elsewhere at a different time. | I should think he is very, very disappointed first of all. I should think very sad that he has lost this, because when you receive a knighthood it if from Her Majesty and is for what you have done. There are different opinions on that, but is a dangerous precedent, because if this is the case who else is up for having a knighthood or any other honour of that kind removed, just because something happened elsewhere at a different time. |
| 9.11am: Digby Jones (left), the former CBI director general, was on the Today programme this morning talking about the Goodwin decision. He detected "a whiff of the lynch mob on the village green". I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome. | 9.11am: Digby Jones (left), the former CBI director general, was on the Today programme this morning talking about the Goodwin decision. He detected "a whiff of the lynch mob on the village green". I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome. |
| The problem is how we got there, because there's a whiff of the lynch mob on the village green about this. Why just him? There are a fair few knights on the board. Where does this stop? This probably throws up the need for some serious guidelines about when it will happen, when it won't. It's very clear [that people lose honours if convicted of a criminal offence.] I sincerely hope it's very clear about the Mugabes and the Ceausescus, but Fred Goodwin has had nothing examined in any court, nor found guilty. | The problem is how we got there, because there's a whiff of the lynch mob on the village green about this. Why just him? There are a fair few knights on the board. Where does this stop? This probably throws up the need for some serious guidelines about when it will happen, when it won't. It's very clear [that people lose honours if convicted of a criminal offence.] I sincerely hope it's very clear about the Mugabes and the Ceausescus, but Fred Goodwin has had nothing examined in any court, nor found guilty. |
| Jones also said that this decision, and the row about Stephen Hester's bonus, could be sending out the wrong signals about Britain's attitude to entrepreneurs. | Jones also said that this decision, and the row about Stephen Hester's bonus, could be sending out the wrong signals about Britain's attitude to entrepreneurs. |
What we need to do is make sure that there's a kid in Bangalore today who's thinking he will come to Britain, make his fortune, create jobs, pay tax, and he thinks, 'hey - don't go there' - not because of the money, but because of the lynch mob mentality if someone fails. | What we need to do is make sure that there's a kid in Bangalore today who's thinking he will come to Britain, make his fortune, create jobs, pay tax, and he thinks, 'hey - don't go there' - not because of the money, but because of the lynch mob mentality if someone fails. |
| 9.03am: Alistair Darling has set out his views on the decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood in an article in the Times (paywall). Here's an extract. | 9.03am: Alistair Darling has set out his views on the decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood in an article in the Times (paywall). Here's an extract. |
There is something tawdry about the government directing its fire at Fred Goodwin alone; if it's right to annul his knighthood what about the honours of others who were involved in RBS and HBOS? If policy is not based on principle but is about individuals, the government will carry on being blown in the wind. That makes for bad government. | There is something tawdry about the government directing its fire at Fred Goodwin alone; if it's right to annul his knighthood what about the honours of others who were involved in RBS and HBOS? If policy is not based on principle but is about individuals, the government will carry on being blown in the wind. That makes for bad government. |
| 8.55am: Was it a good idea to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood? In the papers and on the airwaves there is quite a backlash against the move today. Sometimes populist gestures turn out to be not that popular, although we won't know what the public think until we see some polling. But we know what Alistair Darling, the Labour former chancellor, thinks. This is what he told the Today programme. | 8.55am: Was it a good idea to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood? In the papers and on the airwaves there is quite a backlash against the move today. Sometimes populist gestures turn out to be not that popular, although we won't know what the public think until we see some polling. But we know what Alistair Darling, the Labour former chancellor, thinks. This is what he told the Today programme. |
I really think that in a country like ours, where we pride ourselves on the rule of law and there being a due process and where others look to us, to get ourselves into this situation ... [Goodwin] wasn't the only one that caused problems, and we have a problem here. The government is going after the question of bonuses in one bank in relation to one man. You have to have a principle so people know if they are doing right or wrong ... I am not here to defend Sir Fred. I, of all people, know how difficult the problems were. I just think we are getting into awful trouble here if we go after people on a whim, and we don't have a clear set of principles against which we can judge people. | I really think that in a country like ours, where we pride ourselves on the rule of law and there being a due process and where others look to us, to get ourselves into this situation ... [Goodwin] wasn't the only one that caused problems, and we have a problem here. The government is going after the question of bonuses in one bank in relation to one man. You have to have a principle so people know if they are doing right or wrong ... I am not here to defend Sir Fred. I, of all people, know how difficult the problems were. I just think we are getting into awful trouble here if we go after people on a whim, and we don't have a clear set of principles against which we can judge people. |
| I'll post more reaction to the Goodwin decision shortly. | I'll post more reaction to the Goodwin decision shortly. |
| We've also got PMQs, and Nick Clegg giving evidence to the Lords constitituion committee. Given what Clegg had to say about the Lords in his recent "Open Society" speech, it could get quite lively. | We've also got PMQs, and Nick Clegg giving evidence to the Lords constitituion committee. Given what Clegg had to say about the Lords in his recent "Open Society" speech, it could get quite lively. |
| Here's the full agenda for the day. | Here's the full agenda for the day. |
| 10am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies publishes its green budget. | 10am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies publishes its green budget. |
| 10am: Ed Richards, the Ofcom chief executive, gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. The other witnesses will be Advertising Standards Authority chief executive Guy Parker, Ofcom chairman Colette Bowe and Press Standards Board of Finance chairman Lord Black of Brentwood. | 10am: Ed Richards, the Ofcom chief executive, gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. The other witnesses will be Advertising Standards Authority chief executive Guy Parker, Ofcom chairman Colette Bowe and Press Standards Board of Finance chairman Lord Black of Brentwood. |
| 10.15am: Nick Clegg gives evidence to the Lords constitution committee about Lords reform, devolution and the funding of political parties. | 10.15am: Nick Clegg gives evidence to the Lords constitution committee about Lords reform, devolution and the funding of political parties. |
| 12pm: David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash at PMQs. | 12pm: David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash at PMQs. |
| 12.30pm: MPs start debating the welfare bill. As Patrick Wintour reports, the government will seek to overturn the seven defeats it suffered when the bill was in the Lords. | 12.30pm: MPs start debating the welfare bill. As Patrick Wintour reports, the government will seek to overturn the seven defeats it suffered when the bill was in the Lords. |
| 2.15pm: Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, gives evidence on the green economy to the Commons environmental audit committee. | 2.15pm: Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, gives evidence on the green economy to the Commons environmental audit committee. |
| As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon. | As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon. |
| If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. | If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. |
| And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. | And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. |