It isn't that caretaking job on Hamilton Island just off Australia's Barrier Reef but it's almost as easy and just as lucrative. It's the role of Chairman at Ofcom. Big job? Nah, it's only part time and a cool £200,000 a year.
Lovely Jubbly
The newly appointed chief at Ofcom, the communications watchdog, Collette Bowe, found herself having to defend herself in front of curious MPs at a select committee who wondered why she should be paid so much anyway and why, in particular, she is only doing the job part time. Not least as we are in the middle of a recession.
Of course, in the secret handshake world of Non-Executive Directors and high public appointments, Ms. Bowe is in the fast track. She will be combining her duties with other lucrative Board positions at Axa Framlington, Morgan Stanley (along with Tony Blair by sheer coincidence) and Electra Private Equity - the sorts of jobs that might just be a little bit more demanding now we are in a global recession, so no wonder she can't put much effort into the Ofcom job.
I would have thought a better argument was that no one has put much effort in before so why are MPs griping - surely these pet positions are just for show anyway?
Ms. Bowe is of the 'Super Power' variety anyway like Gordon Brown as she thinks 'the job is doable in the time commitment'. Mr. Brown may be disappointed to know that Ms. Bowe will be earning more than him for this part time work.
High Salaries Attract High Calibre
Part of Ms. Bowe's argument was that Ofcom needed to pay high salaries to ensure it attracts the highest calibre recruits. Well she would hardly say otherwise, would she? She used to be Director of Communication at the Department of Trade & Industry most notably during the Westland Helicopter affair in 1986 - if memory serves me right I don't think she would have much to be proud of there.
But Ms. Bowe is by no means alone. Hector Sants, Chief Executive at the FSA must be the biggest waste of money at a package of £662,000 in 2008 and Ed Richards, Ms. Bowe's CEO at Ofcom earns a mere £418,000. Meanwhile, arguably one of the hardest jobs right now, the Governor of The Bank of England, earns a paltry £290,000 while John Fingleton CEO at the OFT earns only £270,000, Alistair Buchanan CEO at Ofgem earns a pathetic £250,000 and poor Martin Stanley at the Competition Commission earns a dire £175,000.
By using Ms. Bowe's logic from Mervyn King downwards we have paid peanuts and got a load of monkeys or has she just talked herself up?
Jobs For The Girls & Boys
There is no doubt, once you are in the inner circle such lucrative jobs come your way. A nice stint as a Civil Servant will get you plenty of good spots on Boards and these watchdog jobs are the arguably the cushiest in the industry. Not because they should not be hard but because the incumbents offer no insightfulness to drive fair play. We need only to look at the prices of mobile phone roaming or the latest financial fiascoes or the ridiculous price of energy or the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB to know the relative heads of the watchdogs are clearly not devoting enough of their time, effort and expensive 'calibre' to doing anything. And if they did, then they have served us badly for their cost.
In a time when we should be questioning every pound spent as thousands of jobs are culled, it really sickens to see such largesse meted out for pet people in pet jobs.
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