I have been catching up on my reading, and have only just realized that Sir Derek Wanless, who advised Gordon Brown five years ago how to spend all that extra money on the NHS (our money, may I remind you) and who recently (in a King's Fund report) told us that most of it has been wasted, is also, in his spare time a non-executive director of the Northern Rock bank.
Northern Rock is a salutory reminder that much of NuLabour's reputation for financial prudence is a fig leaf; indeed the party itself is hardly an example of financial prudence. Perhaps we should start calling it NuLabourLite.
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Have just been out leafleting in Bedford; where are you Mr Brown?
Reading between the lines it seems he wasn't often at the audit committee.
Yes - Sir Derek Wanless was Chairman of the Rock's important, and presumably influential, Risk and Audit Committee. Not sure how many meetings he attended - as Chairman I would hope it was all of them. He was reportedly paid £86k pa for this role. Having persuaded The Treasury to part with £43,000,000,000 for the NHS (although neglected to overview its dispersal) he must be worth at least 1p in the £ on our taxes ! He was also partly responsible (by virtue of his position) for the debacle at Northern Rock. The bung of a few £billion by Mervyn King has cost "us" taxpayers yet again. Incidentally, his CV shows he was CEO of NatWest before he was ousted in 1999 (with a £3 million pay-off) following disasterous management decisions. NatWest was taken over by The Royal Bank of Scotland. NOW I know what I have to do if I want to be dubbed Sir Grumpy ! $@!* up everything I lay my hands on ! Who coined the phrase "its not what you know, but who you know" ?
Mr Grumpy
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