The disreputable honours system

Mr Fred Goodwin (as I have assiduously called him on these pages for the past three years) has now found that he should not place his trust in “princes” – influential or powerful people. When Mr Goodwin had power those with power honoured him; those without power were cowered by him. Those with power invited him to bear the mark of the powerful – a knighthood – not for any great act of valour or courage or charity although these are the qualities of a very perfect knight. He was awarded this mark of honour for apparently making a great deal of money for his employer. In addition to a massive share of the talents, Mr Goodwin was considered deserving of an honour.

Eventually in large companies like RBS which Mr Goodwin ran, the truth comes out, although the sheer scale of the operations makes getting the truth a lengthy and sometimes painful process. We now find that when Mr Goodwin was honoured he did not make as much money as we thought he did. We also found that Mr Goodwin subsequently, perhaps further emboldened by the honour he received, embarked on a grossly reckless course of action which led to RBS becoming bankrupt. Mr Goodwin had lost not merely the family silver but also the many mites of the poor and the widows that the bank held.

As a result the citizens of the nation had to step in and mortgage their futures for many years in order that the rich and the poor who had saved with RBS could have their money. Mr Goodwin’s reckless is claimed to have centred upon RBS’s acquisition of ABN Amro, but probably went deeper than that. It is argued that others were collusive or accepted that RBS should acquire ABM Amro, including the FSA and the government and I would reply that those should not be honoured in any way too.

I would go further with Mr Goodwin; I find it odd that Mr Goodwin is not facing disqualification proceedings as a company director for his recklessness.

It was said by various politicians that Mr Goodwin had brought the honours system into disrepute. I disagree. Any system that would honour a man for making a great deal of money in a given trade or profession is already in disrepute. I wonder why folk such as Alan Sugar of television fame, Richard Branson who is a great self publicist, Mr Stelios Hadji-Ionnou who is a resident of Monaco, Geoffrey Archer, late of Her Majesty’s pleasure, and others have been thought worthy of honours. Certainly such folk may have been charitable, but in terms of the widows’ mite, their charity is small.

The truth is that the honours system is in itself disreputable. It did not need Fred Goodwin to bring it into disrepute. A soldier who commits acts of great bravery without regard for his or her own life, a surgeon who saves lives selflessly, a nurse who nurses other at great risk to herself or himself are deserving of honours, not those who are good at making and retaining wealth for themselves. The honours system is disreputable because it is used to reward those undeserving of reward – a quid pro quo amongst cronies.