news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8134981.stm
Just looks like prudent government to me - £120m in resettlement money is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the many billions that would have been sucked into developing new models.
Obviously the govt couldn't be seen to kick their union-represented workers into touch, hence the non-disclosure of some correspondence.
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The finding of the original enquiry have not been publicised.
There is a General Election soon.
They could be very embarrassing for the Government.
A Fraud Enquiry results in the enquiry being sub judice and not being published..
Me, cynical? Never.
Edited by madf on 06/07/2009 at 07:20
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I find myself agreeing with madf for once.
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Obviously the govt couldn't be seen to kick their union-represented workers ..........
Union-bashing without you giving giving a shred of evidence in support of your statement is totally unjustified.
Edited by L'escargot on 06/07/2009 at 08:08
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Not union-bashing at all, just wondering if it is the govenrment being politically expedient.
What I mean is the government wouldn't want to publish letters showing them basically letting Rover and it's 6000 workers (and 10s of thousands in related industries) go to the wall.
That's 6000 (+) people who probably traditionally vote more for Labour than the other parties.
Don't want to be seen letting down the working classes now, do we ?
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That's 6000 (+) people who probably traditionally vote more for Labour than the other parties.
How do you know that?
Don't want to be seen letting down the working classes now do we ?
Who is that a dig at? I wish you'd be a bit more specific in your statements.
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Who is that a dig at? I wish you'd be a bit more specific in your statements. <<
The 'dig' is directed at the government, a party supposedly rooted in skilled/unskilled manual workers in Britain who are largely responsible for them being in power in the first place.
My suspicion is that this matter is being handled (by HM Govt) in a way to deflect any government culpability in the collapse of MG-Rover.
Obviously unions are the best thing that ever happened to the UK motor industry, but that's another matter.
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.......... unions are the best thing that ever happened to the UK motor industry .......
That was certainly true when I worked in the motor industry.
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>> .......... unions are the best thing that ever happened to the UK motor industry ....... That was certainly true when I worked in the motor industry.
To elucidate, my employee would have had an insurmountable problem trying to negotiate separately with every single employee. It was a condition of employment that we were members of an appropriate trade union, to enable collective bargaining to take place.
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I wouldn't mind running a company for 5 years for £2M a year pocket money, no matter what happened afterwards, which is what the Pheonix 4 seem to have done. Its just a shame for them that they didn't get to pocket a few million £ of the taxpayers money on top of this !
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Surely the question is, were the efforts of John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards over 5 years worth worth the £40m in pay and pensions they are estimated to have paid themselves?
These effort did actually keep 12,500 people employed by Rover and its suppliers in work for those 5 years.
Compare that to the rewards of effort that ultimately lead to failure in other fields, like banking.
HJ
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Just noticed some guy on the news speaking on behalf of the famous 4. Claims that they had more like 30m out, not the 40 thats being banded about. Also mentioned the fact that the Govt had been asked for assistance on several occasions, but that they had tried to distance themselves.
I tend to agree that this whole thing stinks of a cover up. I wonder if the Govt hadnt just bailed out the banks they would be so keen to cover up the enquiry?
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I always found John Towers a very decent fellow who was very enthusiastic about his role within the company (at that time he was managing Land Rover after being involved with the evolvement of the Honda partnership); certainly there were and are many people in the Midlands who think highly of him.
Edited by Stuartli on 07/07/2009 at 10:23
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I suspect MG Rover was doomed from the start, but the Phoenix Four's (or rather Five - don't forget Mr Howe) management hardly helped - even notwithstanding how well they were feathering their own nests. They squandered time and money on the pointless X80 and X12 projects, while the only project that really mattered (RD/X60) was outsourced to a consultancy that went bust (TWR), and was then left to wither on the vine. They took a runabout built in India for Indians, stuck a Union Jack on it, called it a (City)Rover and tried to sell it for more than its competitors. They walked away from a deal with Fiat and ended up trying to hook up with a Chinese purveyor of Toyota HiAce minibus knock-offs. By that time, the writing was well and truly on the wall.
Edited by Typ 8L on 07/07/2009 at 12:34
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I never saw any evidence in the motoring press of any serious work on replacing the mass-market range that MG Rover inherited from its BMW days. There was a very wierd looking hatcback concept that was displayed, but that's about all.
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interesting reading
www.aronline.co.uk/
covers the demise as well
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