But all the evidence I’ve seen is that those without business experience are
Posted in General on 24. Jul, 2010
But all the evidence I’ve seen is that those without business experience are counter-productive. One senior businessman, who fell out with a former minister, said: “My own view is terribly simple. Politicians with good business experience are super to have on boards. So are ex-ministerial directors a good thing or a bad thing? The answer,as ever, is it all depends.
Non-execs are now expected to sit on sub-committees governing audit, remuneration or appointments. A single non-executiv e directorship takes up about 20 to 25 working days a year, says Mrs Newbold, who is shortly to become chief executive at Pro Ned, the organisation that promotes non-execs. However, being a non-executive director is far more onerous than five years ago, because of the Cadbury Code on Corporate Governance. The sky’s the limit with a chairmanship, although the duties expand Lord Prior receives pounds 236,000 for chairing GEC.
A minimum of pounds 20,000 for a non-executive directorship can grow to pounds 50,000 to pounds 100,000 for a deputy chairmanship. Whatever the attraction for the companies, the attraction for the ex-ministers is usually money. Indeed, in all these cases, the ex-ministers insist nothing improper took place. Lord MacGregor took no pa rt in the decision to use Hill Samuel. Lord (John) MacGregor was last year appointed deputy chairman of Hill Samuel. The previous year the Department of Transport, where he was then minister, had appointed the merchant bank to advise on the Channel Tunnel rail link.