Rights said Fred
by Graham Davies

In the higher reaches of the private sector, the term Pension "Rights" is something of a misnomer: you don't get what you deserve, you get what you can negotiate. Fred Goodwin is clearly a master of the art.

Negotiation of a remuneration package is one of the most personal forms of presentation: both sides are talking about the value of a human being and their skills. Fred rates himself very highly and RBS clearly agreed with that valuation. RBS must surely have known the full cost implications of the agreement when they entered into it.

That should be the end of the story, no matter what the rest of us think of the amounts involved. But Harriet Harman says that the pension is not acceptable in the "Court of Public Opinion". As an experienced solicitor, she should not be surprised if a judge thinks that the decision of a Court of Law is more important.

The government also argues that Fred should have the amount reduced in a way that is commensurate with the negative financial consequences to the bank of any poor decisions that he made while holding office.

Fine. Let's have the same formula applied to Tony Blair for the costs incurred by invading Iraq.