A just reward (From The Northern Echo)

A just reward

11:57am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Comment

IF FRED Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, had a shred of decency he would have returned his knighthood long before the Queen asked for her gong back.

It was ludicrous to think that the man who presided over the biggest banking disaster this country has ever seen should keep hold of an honour for services to banking.

His failure to do the right thing in the face of calls by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition only goes to show the gulf that now exists between ordinary hard working folk and the privileged few.

It would have been far more sensible, and much less embarrassing, to have handed the knighthood back after the RBS needed recapitalising to the tune of £54bn by UK taxpayers.

How ironic that news of Mr Goodwin’s humiliation should come the day after his successor, Stephen Hester, opted to waive the right to a £1m bonus for fear of becoming a pariah.

Those who know him say Mr Goodwin is not the type to hand back an honour.

They point to the way he walked away from his broken bank with a £16m pension pot and an apparent inability to say sorry for what it had done.

Although the decision to strip him of a knighthood is nothing but a token gesture, it will be warmly welcomed by the thousands of loyal RBS employees who lost their jobs when the bank ran aground.

We trust the business world will not hear of him again.