Known Knowns and Known Unknowns

The RBS Pension fiasco runs on more like Freddy Kruger than Freddy Goodwin as today we hear that the Government even in hindsight got the figures wrong as Fred's pension is, in fact, £703,000 per year not the £693,000 previously stated.

Today we heard from those guardians of our lucrative investments, UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) and specifically Mike Kingman, CEO, and Glen Moreno, Acting Chairman. In a Tweedledum and Tweedledee performance they revealed that the size of the pension pot for Fred was actually known by the Government but those nasty Non Executive Directors at RBS, Tom McKillip and Bob Scott, hoodwinked the Government and UKFI by apparently giving Fred a discretionary rise in his pension.

They also defended poor Lord Myners, who is very much in the electric chair for the whole fiasco, and said that he should not be expected to have known the finer details for the RBS pension scheme.

Umm, Actually - He, And They, Should Have Known

Not just Lord Myners but the whole shambolic Government should have read the RBS 2007 Annual Report which would have clearly shown how much Fred Goodwin was due. The second fact is that they should not have entrusted two Non Executive Directors to have negotiated Goodwin's exit. The Government should have been directly involved and claiming anything else is just complete negligence on behalf of the taxpayer - it is of little value that idiots like Brown, Darling, Cooper and Harman are now trying to play hardball after the event.

They should have been right on top of this, knowing full well how sensitive the situation was.

But they had been considerably delighted with PR coop that somehow Sir Fred had been persuaded to forgo his 15 month salary entitlement to look at the small print and work out how much was actually getting.

Doing It Right

Bamboozled by big numbers and banking advisers, the Government should have taken the initiative here and handled Goodwin's departure directly instead of giving the task to the very people complicit in his stupid business activities.

Goodwin should have been sacked - it's pointless Moreno saying he should have walked of his own accord, the job was there to be done not to expect some old British honour of someone taking the brandy decanter and a Colt to shoot themselves in the study; Goodwin had skin thicker than the hide of a weathered rhinoceros, no way he was going to walk without a back up plan.

If he had been sacked there would have been no pay out anyway and under the terms of the RBS pension plan would have still got £416,000 per year as a pension which still sounds excessive.

As usual, this Government has let us down and is employing its usual tactics of trying to find scapegoats and mitigate its responsibilities. As it plays with ever increasing amounts of our money, it does not instill anyone with any confidence that they have any idea what they are doing or why.