Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

It takes a real man to give up £640,000 of his bonus and accept only £963,000!
Greater love hath no man for the taxpayers he works for.
Now with only that and his £1.2 million salary he's going to have to look for economies in his lifestyle.
Luckily he enjoys gardening so he should be able to grow enough food on his 350 acre estate to survive on although it means he will have less time to visit his chalet in Switzerland.
On the bright side his bonus is in shares and they have halved in value since he took over- in three years when he gets them who knows.
No wonder they say it's tough at the top!

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Yep n so much fer Cameron keeping his word.:rolleyes:

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Governments don't do 'treachery' do they?:rolleyes:

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

The man should do the decent thing and give his bonus back, although I'm sure he won't have any concept of such an idea. I'm so angry that the tax I pay will go to fund a very rich fat cat whilst the rest of us public servants face yet another pay freeze and reduced pension for more money and everyone in the country fears for their jobs and sees their wages purchase less and less.
My mother was right -she always said vote Tory and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It seems to me that the burden of the current economic crisis falls on the ordinary working people, whilst those who caused it and their cronies in power just carry on getting more and more money.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

There are two ways of looking at this bonus thing, in one way if he can get the rbs back to a state to sell it at a PROFIT its worth paying him a bonus , but you can also say it is a moral disgrace that in these times when ordinary people are struggling that a payment of this size can be made to one man in what is basically state owned bank.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

I think I have mentioned it before, but not many agree with me, that the rich are starting to overplay their hand. They have the economic power and have translated this into political power. They now believe that they are in an unassailable position. But I do believe they are wrong. And that the assault will begin soon.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

If and when he does that and we get our taxes back I'd say give him the lot,he'll have been worth it.
Until then---bonus payments should be based on success, not the possibility of success.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Thats what i mean Gordon yes , when and if little big words by all means pay the guy his worth when job done.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Forgot to mention ... and it is related to the topic ... that our tory PM chose to mention at Davos:eek: today, that his government, which is cutting jobs in the civil service and refusing opposition calls to increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, is planning to raise the qualifying age for old age security pensions from 65 to 67 ... arrogance, the pride that cometh etc. A quick CBC poll today revealed that 80% of Canadians are opposed to this. Arrogant sonofabitch. The right wingers are digging their own graves with their insatiable greed.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

The strange thing is the BBC gave £18,000,000 of our money to somebody to say "Tell us about your new film-book-record"

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

They always justify these bonuses by saying 'If we don't pay them this money they will leave the company or go abroad where they can earn more"

Strange that same argument isn't applied to Firemen/Nurses etc when their pay negotiations come round.

Are these bankers super human, where nobody else can do their jobs? How difficult can it be to run a business so that it loses 40% of it's value in a year?

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Its only the Tories that say that.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

I don't really know how much I am in favor of government ownership of business ... nationalization, ... state capitalism I suppose you could call it. But that kind of loss in one year:eek: It would be difficult, though not impossible, for government to do worse.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Well at one time I worked at firms who ran bonus schemes and on many occasions I could earn more in bonus than I got paid in wages, but this guy is on a salary of £1.2 million per year and has fail to meet targets that he set, to me if you expect to get a bonus you have to earn it, which quite obviously Stephen Hester hasn't, what he should be doing is apologising to the share holders (the British Tax payer) and David Cameron should Vito this bonus, then the people would see that he is serious at reforming the banking system, sadly he hasn't done that and therefore deserves all the flack coming his way

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

as much as i hate to say this it aint camerons fault.

what milliband and his mates neglected to say when speaking about how awfull this was is that it was his lot that gave him the contract that allowed this bonus and it has to be honored.

Also its not as bad as it sounds because he isnt getting the money theres stipulations attatched and it s been paid in shares which he will only get if a certain target is reached sometime around 2014 or something

i forget the details i heard them in teh car on the radio but he isnt getting a huge cash bonus in his next pay packet

not saying its right what he is getting but its no where near as bad as its been hyped up to be and like i said if any blame is to be dealt it should be at labour for making such a stupid thing possible by contract.

im sure if cameron broke that contract he would have cameron up in the european court for it somehow and end up paying more money.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Well i heard the government are at liberty to have renegotiated the contract.:confused:

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

The claim made by Cameron that this bonus was in a binding contract has been shown to be lies... the contract states that Hester should be "considered" for a bonus by the board of RBS, then it had to be approved by ministers... the board of RBS submitted the bonus to the government and the government approved this bonus.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

fair enough but at the time i heard it the news wasnt saying that :)

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

In a nutshell, I will stick to it,hes a lying Tory Pig.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

The update is this:

"George Osborne has told the BBC that the government will not vote against Stephen Hester's bonus as a shareholder at the April AGM"

He said it would be an inappropriate use of the government's 82% shareholding, just as it would have been inappropriate to intervene in setting the size of his bonus in the first place.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Another update, The Chairman of R.B.S. Sir Richard Hampton,has turned down a bonus of 1.4 millions worth of shares,saying it would be inappropriate, Funny how Cameron n Osbourne think these are ok.:mad:

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Strange thing is the government approved the bonus, but when the kak hits they try to wriggle out of it and say the Hester should decline the bonus they awarded him :rolleyes:.. why should the bloke decline nigh on a million quid?

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

I wouldn't say no to a million quid.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

i would for 2 million quid :D

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

There should never be any need for a bonus.His salary should reflect his ability, and that should be all he gets.Thats all I ever got in my life. Why should he be any different?

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Nothing wrong with bonuses Jim in the right context, as I said previously I sometimes earned more in bonus than in wages, but I was on a realistic wage to start with, when your salary is £1.2 million a year its a joke, anybody would think he's a footballer playing for United, now their wages are obscene aren't they Mancie:rolleyes:

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

After yesterday's display, I would say la creme are certainly worth it....

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

I bet he rejected the bonus through gritted teeth!

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

no one has actually worked out that by taking his bonus the gov gets ~ half of it in tax... if he refuses it then the money stays in the Bank funds and the taxpayer gets nowt.....

should he get paid a bonus? I'd say yes if he has met the targets that were set, should it be so much? probably not but at these levels numbers do become detached form real value that you and I talk about.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

He might have some shonky accountant for a friend, and evade as much tax as possible.
The large companies seem to get away with tax avoidance by legal loophole....which is just the same as tax evasion. It is high time thes e loopholes were closed.
I am not against people being paid extra for good work.....but why don't other people(your garage mechanic, butcher the till operator at Tesco) get the same perks when they have done a good job.
This man gets paid a damn fine salary.......more than us plebs earn in a lifetime.

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

I shouldn't imagine too many folk are concerned wi that, More concerned wi the fact that many are losing money,working longer ect, Yet Cameron says were all in this together............. Not those who actually caused this banking mess, can have big bonuses.:rolleyes:

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

I agree with most of what you say Margaret, think the only difference we have is, well, I don't give a monkey's what anybody else earns really, that's never bothered me, I always used to be too busy making sure I earned enough. Even today it doesn't bother me that much, so long as I can meet my own outgoings I'm quite happy, the thing is I don't even claim the full amount of benefits I could get, you may ask why, well I'm happy with what I get, it meets my needs, I don't smoke, drink very little, no need to buy clothes, I only wear tracky pants a footy shirts (they don't need ironing:D)I don't go on holiday, so why do I need more money. There may come the day that I will have the need of more cash, but until then I'll carry on as I am

Re: Stephen Hester- the ultimate sacrifice!
 

Fred Goodwin stripped of his knighthood.

What a shame.

Still, he has enough money to buy another gong, just as soon as the dust's settled.