Britain’s Co-operative Bank, a PLC owned by the Co-operative Group (The world’s largest mutual, according to various sources) is enduring an historic omnishambles. The hidden monolith of toxic debt that the bank unknowingly absorbed in its merger with the Britannia Building Society has almost sunk the bank. As a consequence, the Co-operative Group has been forced to transfer a majority shareholding in the bank to US-owned vulture funds- hardly fitting new owners for Britain’s foremost ethical financial institution!
So in the midst of all this, revelations of the behaviour of the bank’s previous Chief Executive, Paul Flowers (who resigned a few months ago, unable to cope with the bank’s problems) are unwelcome news. Flowers resigned as a Labour councillor in 2011 following the discovery of pornography on his council laptop. Also, a video and other evidence surfaced of Flowers buying a range of illegal drugs. Within this hurricane of bad publicity, the world has just noticed that Flowers had no qualifications or experience in banking prior to his being parachuted into the top job in one of the country’s largest banks. Quite why nobody said anything at the time escapes me, and David Cameron has set up two inquiries into the matter for supposedly similar reasons.
But now the Labour Party is being attacked by the Tory leadership over the Paul Flowers news. Because Flowers used to be a Labour councillor, the Labour Party banks with the Co-op Bank and the Co-operative movement is linked with Labour, apparently Ed Miliband is personally responsible for the actions of Flowers. To call it a flimsy case is to put it mildly. To think one can make political capital out of this requires a very dim view of people’s intelligence. Unfortunately, Cameron can rely on the fact that most of the public will give the matter only fleeting attention. The ridiculousness of it is just jaw-dropping.
I do find it noteworthy that the Prime Minister is so ready to implicate the entire Co-operative Group in his feeble insinuations. While it makes a refreshing change from his tired catchphrase that Len McCluskey runs the Labour Party, I doubt that the several million members of the Co-op are eager to take over the Opposition. Most of them are keener on collecting Dividend points than infiltrating political organisations.
And yes, as a Labour affiliate, the Co-op Group contributes £1 million a year to Party funds via the Co-operative Party. That is a longstanding practice that is as symbolic as the Labour Party’s trade union links. Whatever you think of the arrangement, it makes Labour no more responsible for the activities of the Co-operative Group’s subsidiaries than the Conservatives are responsible for CarpetRight and LycaMobile, businesses owned by prolific Tory donors.
I’m a Labour member. Is Ed Miliband liable if I get caught shoplifting? Because if you don’t agree with my logic, blame the Labour Party.