Until yesterday the honours forfeiture committee, a seldom-heard-of cog in the Whitehall machine, had since 1995 recommended that 34 recipients of British medals and titles be stripped of them – among them the Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe. Now that number has increased to 35 with the decision to take away Sir Fred Goodwin’s knighthood.
Few tears will be shed for a ruthless cost-cutter known as Fred the Shred. In the many articles and books published about his time at the helm of Royal Bank of Scotland, he emerges as a tyrannical and abrasive boss. It is hard to think highly of a man who was unable to control his temper if the wrong type of biscuit was put in the boardroom, once threatening disciplinary action after executives were offered pink wafers. His decision to take a super-sized, iron-clad pension after wrecking the 301-year-old bank has rightly rendered him the object of public derision. If the recipient of an honour should be expected to show noblesse oblige, the soon to be Mr Goodwin has fallen woefully short.
But it is Sir Fred’s professional failings – rather than his manner – that have driven the committee’s decision. These are all too easily enumerated. Indeed, given the huge losses racked up by RBS during the credit crunch, the enormous infusion of taxpayers’ money needed to rescue it and the knock-on damage to the UK economy, it has come to seem parodic that he should continue to hold an honour for “services to banking”.