20/01/2012

Miliband Says RBS Chief Should Lose Knighthood

Labour leader Ed Miliband has said it was "clearly wrong" for former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief Fred Goodwin to be knighted, as the banker accepts a seven figure bonus despite halving his bank's share price.

Sir Fred Goodwin has been heavily criticised over the bank's near collapse, was honoured for "services to banking" under the previous Labour government in 2004.

However, Prime Minister David Cameron has said the cash element of bonuses at the now state-controlled and bailed out Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc will continue to be limited to 2,000 pounds ($3,100).

Mr Cameron made the initial call for the knighthood given to former RBS chief Fred Goodwin to be reviewed.

In an interview with the Daily Mail on Thursday, the Labour leader said honours had been stripped before.

"It was clearly wrong for him to be given a knighthood, knowing what we know now about the damage he caused not just to RBS but to hard-pressed ordinary families up and down Britain who are now paying the price of his failure," he said.

"It was wrong to have given him the knighthood and it’s right that it should be revoked. We have seen some other examples – Prince Naseem (the former world boxing champion) had an honour taken away, and there was a headteacher that had hers taken away."

(DW)

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