The Emperor of Dissemblance

“He keeps saying he’s going to sort it out. He needs to get his chequebook out and write a cheque” – is Frank Field addressing this statement to Sir Philip Green or to Wirral Council Chief Executive Eric Robinson? 

I was awoken from my golden slumbers this morning by Her Ladyship shrieking :

” Darling , come quickly, that ghastly man is on Radio 4 again…..”  

As there seem to be so many ghastly men (and women) about at the moment it was only when I heard the familiar condescending drawl that I realised she meant dear old Birkenhead MP Frank Field (aka Frankenfield).

Whilst sat at the dining room table I settled down to listen to Frankenfield fulminate against “Sir” Philip Green   described as the “unacceptable face of capitalism ” in a report into the collapse of BHS published today by the Work and Pensions and Business, Innovations and Skills Committees . As we know Frankenfield is the chair of the former Committee and took the opportunity  to do his well worn holier than thou routine and asked :  “What kind of man is it who can count his fortune in billions but does not know what decent behaviour is?”

For the the full tawdry story : https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/jul/25/damning-bhs-report-leaves-sir-philip-green-under-pressure-business-live?page=with:block-5795a8a3e4b0d75e7e5f2dcd

That was bad enough however I nearly choked on my kedgeree as Frankenfield  with breathtaking hypocrisy called Green a “Napoleon figure who orchestrated all this ” and who was “used to everyone around him doing as they’re told”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36879241

Takes a Napoleon to know a Napoleon we thought to ourselves! .

Although in this case Frankenfield ‘s Napoleon being less like Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and more like the Napoleon from Animal Farm – Our Leader,Comrade Napoleon, Father of all Animals, Terror of Mankind,Protector of the sheep-fold,Ducklings’ Friend – the Emperor of Dissemblance.

Frankenfield went on (and on and on) to demand  that Sir Green should write a cheque for “at least” £571m for the BHS pensioners……..which in comparison his demand for £48,000 x 4  from Wirral Council for his favoured recording artistes seems quite reasonable! .

But what was it about Frankenfield’s insistence that the collapse of BHS  was all down to  model -botherer and yacht-collector Green ?  (he certainly has it in for Greens doesn’t he ?- whether they’re former Wirral Council Directors or the Wirral Green Party).More objective commentators have drawn attention to the fact that the BHS Inquiry deservedly lambasted not only Green , but the buyer of BHS Dominic Chappell and their enablers.

A report in today’s Financial Times titled “BHS report lays bare failure and liability” states that  – ” Some of the report’s most withering passages are reserved for the “directors, advisers and hangers-on” who surround the two men (Green and Chappell) . They “are all culpable”, the MPs say.”

Among the advisers were  Grant Thornton, the accountancy and auditing firm . Who also strangely enough are Wirral Council’s  auditors. We were particularly drawn to the Financial Times comment that these directors,advisers and hangers-on gave the greedy Green “the lustre of credibility”.

We can’t help feeling the same “lustre of credibility” is similarly given to  Frankenfield and the Wirralgate scandal by the likes of Council directors ,advisers, hangers on and in particular Grant Thornton.

We say this as we are in possession of some astonishing correspondence between Grant Thornton and a local person of interest who has asked us to hang fire for the moment as they (and us) await further developments.

So finally we’d like to ask our readers that whilst they’re demanding “Sir ” Philip gets stripped of his knighthood that St.Frank gets stripped of his sainthood and we’ll leave the last word to Napoleon himself …….

 

 

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