A few words before bed...

So now, a little over three months since the explosion that claimed the lives of eleven workers, Tony Hayward is negotiating with BP over the terms of his departure as Chief Executive. For a long time now Hayward has been the public hate figure for the disaster, and his numerous PR gaffs have done little to dissuade opinions. For a while it really did seem that the man who said he’d ‘like my life back’ and went racing in his yacht around the Isle of Wight genuinely had little understanding of public relations. Yet in light of the timing of this announcement, it is starting to seem more like brilliant diversionary tactics on the part of BP's management.

By focusing so much anger upon one man, BP have created their own ‘fall guy’. Hayward hasn’t been in charge of the clean-up operation for weeks now, why not just remove him then? Because there was no guarantee that the end was in sight. Until the cap was in place, and most importantly holding, it would have been too risky to remove the patsy and have to find more excuses later on if there were further problems. Meanwhile Hayward just had to bide his time and wait for his golden handshake.

There’s an old saying that large corporations ‘have no flesh to punish nor soul to condemn’, and once again we are faced with the prospect of a multi-national being allowed to do as it pleases with few real consequences outside of a brief dip in share price. With the CPS also announcing this week that it will not be seeking prosecution against PC Simon Harwood for essentially beating a man to death on video, is it any wonder that members of the public are so jaded with the government, and authority, in general?

Unapologetic rant over. Maybe it’s because it’s Sunday?