P&O Boss Hebblethwaite. The unacceptable face of capitalism, but will Johnson say it?
P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite has admitted to MPs that he deliberately broke the law when sacking 800 workers last week. Since the Government is a firm believer in law and order one expects a stiff penalty..
A start would be if Boris Johnson actually denounced Hebblethwaite.
The reference to the unacceptable face of capitalism relates to a remark made in May 1973 following a Court case when the then Tory Prime Minister Ted Heath referred in the Commons to the activities of London based southern African mining firm Lonhro as the ‘unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism’.
The phrase has entered the historical record as an example of a Conservative Prime Minister drawing a moral limit to how far free market capitalism might go.
P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite has admitted to MPs that a decision to sack 800 workers last week without notice broke the law.
He said there was “absolutely no doubt” that under UK employment law the firm was required to consult unions before making the mass cuts.
However, he said no union would have accepted the plan and it was easier to compensate workers “in full” instead.
BBC report
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