Jim Armitage: Stobart chiefs must haul themselves back to this planet

It’s not about the money. That’s what every chief executive in the land says when you challenge them over “fatcat” pay.

We do our jobs here for pride, love of the staff, duty to the shareholders who depend on us.

Leaked emails today from the former boss of Stobart tell a rather different story.

As the Telegraph reports, when he was in charge at the haulier, Andrew Tinkler complained of being paid “a pittance” and moaning about a previous boss’s move to close an executive share scheme and replace it with one less generous.

He went on to use some Neanderthal language about her gender before declaring: “My income from Stobart for the last 10 years was not worth getting out of bed for.”

How much was this poor dear struggling by on? A mere £5.6 million last year.

Admittedly, the present chief executive is on a package that could pay up to £20 million, but that doesn’t make Tinkler’s whingeing right.

Rather, it highlights again the greed and sense of entitlement at the top of many British businesses. What planet can any person be on to think that multiple millions of pounds aren’t worth getting out of bed for?

There’s an unseemly boardroom tussle going on at Stobart, which is presumably why Tinkler’s embarrassing email surfaced now. It is to be hoped that the shareholders who decide on the outcome will ensure the winners’ pay is kept down to the levels one would expect at a humble haulier.

But, given that his email whinge was written to one such shareholder, that is probably a naïve hope.

MPs blow chance to nail prices vow

Delightful to see Asda chief Roger Burnley being made to squirm by MPs yesterday, particularly on the dodgy promise that his merger plan will result in 10% price cuts.

As this column pointed out at the time, that pledge was so vague as to be entirely meaningless, with no details on which goods would fall by 10%, and how many.

But while MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee created much heat around the issue, with their insults and cries of “baloney!”, there was precious little light.

Rather than just huff and puff to get positive reviews of their performances in this morning’s prints, they would have been far better trying to wrest tangible promises to which the duo could be held post-merger.

Real guarantees, with numbers attached, on pay, commitments not to squeeze smaller suppliers, pledges on reducing plastic usage.

As it was, while Sainsbury’s and Asda’s bosses may have been made to look a bit hapless, their Commons appearance did little to help businesses dealing with this proposed megalith of a retailer, and nothing to keep down the public’s shopping bills.

Once again, a committee of MPs has proved itself more interested in their media profiles than forensically holding powerful men to account.