Was Rod Aldridge Going to Resign Anyway?
Posted March 23rd, 2006 by ringverse
...Elsewhere, support services group Capita dropped 12-3/4 pence to 457-1/2, on news its executive chairman Rod Aldridge has taken the decision to step down after questions were raised about a personal loan he made to the Labour Party.
However Deutsche Bank said although the announcement came sooner than expected, it believed Aldridge had been considering such a move for some time and his activity within Capita has receded over recent months as he sought to pursue other interests.
[Hat Tip - A Logical Voice]
As Rod Aldrige's resignation has done a great job of pushing the 'Secret Loans for Influence' story back onto the top of the news agenda, one has got to wonder why he did so today?
Coupled with the fact he wants his money back it looks like he is mighty pissed off, CEOs don't usually resign over spurious claims or misconceptions do they?
Does anybody know if the Labour loaners named in the published list knew their names were to me made public before they were 'outed'?
Its interesting to note that
Its interesting to note that Rod Aldirge says he's resigning because
"At present, the group's reputation is being questioned because of my personal decision to lend money to the Labour Party."
And nothing to do at all with the crap performance of his company.
There is some interesting
There is some interesting background information on all this "loans" business on David Osler's blog which I came across via Nu Labour. It's a chapter of his 2002 book "Labour Party Plc: New Labour as a Party of Business"
The initial position on the
The initial position on the day of Blair's announcement was that they would announce new loans but keep the initial ones secret, but that didn't last very long and they came out in dribs and drabs over the next few days. Presumably someone realised that it was going to happen anyway and would damage the Tories more.
However, that doesn't take anything away from the fact that the lenders must have sought anonymity before loaning Labour (well, Number 10, really) the money and will therefore be mightily pissed off.
The story won't go away (well, we won't let it, will we boys and girls?) because the loans must fall due sometime later this year and we'll see how many of these rich men choose to exercise the power they now have over Labour ('shall I bankrupt them now or later *muahahaha*') and how many choose to extend the loans. We'll see what policy must be changed or bad legislation pushed through in order to keep them sweet, too.
Interesting item on today
Interesting item on today programme this morning - Gordon Brown and others have been saying "You'll have to ask Lord Levy"....who doesn't give interviews. And they wonder why we don't trust them?
You should check your facts
You should check your facts before writing such nonsense - Capita has performed amazingly well on just about any time frame you choose - it is interesting to note however that the big profits have always been made from local and central government contracts - amazing that a former civil servant with strong labour connections has managed this - new labours' old boys club methinks