IN THE NEWS TODAY: Dinner-gate rumbles on, it’s Game over on the High St and the UK’s in talks to sell part of RBS stake to Abu Dhabi
THE TIMES
BANKERS AND TYCOONS AT CAMERON’S TOP TABLE
By Roland Watson, Political Editor
Hedge-fund billionaires, property tycoons and banking executives were among wealthy donors to the Tory Party who David Cameron entertained at Chequers and Downing Street, it emerged yesterday. No 10 bowed to mounting pressure and published two lists of backers who have enjoyed the Prime Minister’s hospitality on official property on at least nine occasions in the past two years. The group of 16, many of whom have lobbied for City and business interests, have donated £23 million to the Conservatives since Mr Cameron became leader in 2005. They include Sir Paul Ruddock, whose hedge fund, Lansdowne Partners, made £100 million from betting against Northern Rock before the financial crash, and Michael Hintze, a hedge-fund chief and one of the main backers of Adam Werritty, Liam Fox’s self-styled adviser. Others include Michael Spencer, whose Icap broking company paid a $25 million penalty to settle allegations laid by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and the chairman of JCB, Sir Anthony Bamford, the opening of whose factory in India Mr Cameron attended in 2006. Several have pushed for lower business rates, including Henry Angest, the chairman and chief executive of the Arbuthnot Banking Group, who has described Britain’s tax system as “punitive”.
DAILY MAIL
HELD TO RANSOM BY 1,000 TANKER DRIVERS: PETROL STATIONS FACE CLOSURE AS LESS THAN HALF UNION’S MEMBERS VOTE FOR STRIKE
By Gerri Peev, Political Correspondent
Motorists are being held to ransom by 1,000 militant tanker drivers who yesterday voted for a national strike.The walkout, which threatens to wreck the Easter break, could close nearly 8,000 petrol stations.Army personnel are being trained to drive the tankers and are on standby to maintain essential supplies.But only a minority of union members voted for the strike. Unite, the union led by militant Len McCluskey, balloted members at seven major haulage and oil companies in a dispute over pay and conditions for drivers.Across these organisations, the union has 2,062 members. But only 1,001 voted in favour of striking – 48.5 per cent. The union achieved its slender 55 per cent majority for strike action because 12 per cent of members failed to vote.
THE GUARDIAN
LIB DEMS AND LABOUR OPPOSE SALE OF STATE-OWNED RBS
By Jill Treanor
Selling off shares in Royal Bank of Scotland at a loss will face fierce resistance, the Liberal Democrats and Labour warned on Monday, amid fresh speculation that talks are underway with a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi to buy a stake in the bailed-out bank. Discussions with sovereign wealth funds, which invest the money of rich states, have taken place as part of moves to sell off the 83% taxpayer stake in RBS and the 40% stake in Lloyds Banking Group.
But any attempt to sell off the RBS shares – which are trading at half the average price the taxpayer paid for them – will be resisted by Lib Dems who are calling for a more interventionist approach.
FINANCIAL TIMES
COUTTS FINED FOR LAUNDERING VIOLATIONS
By Sharlene Goff and Brooke Masters in London
Coutts & Co, the private bank used by Queen Elizabeth II, was hit with the UK’s biggest-ever fine for violating money laundering rules after it failed to conduct proper checks on almost three-quarters of clients that held politically sensitive positions.The wealth division of Royal Bank of Scotland was fined £8.75m in the first case to emerge from an industry-wide probe by the Financial Services Authority into the way banks handle accounts of overseas politicians and other clients that could be exposed to corruption.
THE SUN
WE’LL BOOST PAY IF YOU CUT TEA BREAKS
BMW OFFER TO MINI WORKERS
By Steve Hawkes
Car giant BMW is handing British workers a bumper pay rise — as long as they cut their tea breaks. The German firm — famed for its success with the Mini — wants production line staff to spend less time supping brews. Bosses will offer a pay rise of six per cent to 1,800 workers at the plant in Cowley, Oxford, tomorrow. But a third of it will be conditional on the plant meeting end-of-year targets. And BMW yesterday confirmed staff would be asked to cut their tea breaks by at least ten minutes to just 43 minutes per day. Furious trade union members said the workforce would be up in arms. One told Sun City: "After what they've done to shift patterns recently we feared the pay deal would come with strings attached. "We get 26 minutes in the morning and 27 in the afternoon for a break. And when you're on the line you need time for a tea or coffee.
THE TELEGRAPH
GAME TO SHUT 277 UK STORES AND CUT 2,100 JOBS
By Helia Ebrahimi
The decision will also spark a temporary ban on all gift vouchers at the store, which sells PlayStation, Xbox and PC video games. Game – the struggling computer games retailer – was put into administration on Monday morning after failing to reach a rescue deal over the weekend. It will now close half the UK portfolio of shops – focusing its efforts on saving the remaining 333 UK stores for a possible deal over the next few weeks. Those 333 stores will continue to employ 2,814 people, until a buyer is found. Game employs 10,000 staff in 1,270 stores in nine European countries and Australia. Administrator PwC has also been put in charge of selling the company’s overseas operations.
FINANCIAL TIMES
EASYJET OFFERS EXIT-ROW SEATS FOR £12
By Mark Wembridge and Rose Jacobs
Seats in the exit rows of some EasyJet flights will cost £12 from April as the no-frills airline seeks to attract customers reluctant to take part in the boarding-time mélee of budget flying. Under EasyJet’s first experiment with allocated seating – on routes between Luton and six destinations including Malaga, Istanbul and Glasgow – passengers will be assigned a spot, with an algorithm used to sit people booking together next to one another. Passengers willing to pay £3 can choose their seats, although exit row and front row seats – with extra legroom – will cost an additional £9, and those towards the front an extra £5. EasyJet is hopeful the feature will attract business travellers who tend to book later, buy flexible fares and worry less about price.
THE SCOTSMAN
BARR KEEN TO ADD SPARKLE TO FRUIT JUICE ICE CREAM
By Peter Ranscombe
Irn-Bru maker AG Barr yesterday unveiled plans to move into the ice cream market with its Rubicon fruit juice brand after posting a better-than-expected rise in full-year profits.
The Cumbernauld-based firm also named Milton Keynes as the home for its long-awaited new factory south of the Border, with the cost of the plant coming in at half the original £40 million budget after Barr decided to lease rather than buy the plant.
Barr chief executive Roger White said he had no plans at present to introduce an Irn-Bru flavoured sorbet, despite several Scottish ice cream parlours already offering the flavour. “Let’s see how the Rubicon products go first,” said White. “We’ve signed a number of contracts with shops to stock the products and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they sell.” Barr’s Rubicon and KA tropical fruit brands were the star performers in its full-year results for 2011, with its still juice sales growing by 9.4 per cent compared with 3.8 per cent for the market as a whole.
THE INDEPENDENT
FED CHIEF'S WARNING ON JOBS LIFTS BONDS HOPES
By Stephen Foley
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, warned that the recent reduction in unemployment in the world's largest economy may not be sustainable, reigniting hopes of central bank intervention to stoke the recovery.
Mr Bernanke's declaration frames a debate on the Fed's next steps that will rage for the next four weeks, ahead of a crunch meeting of the central bank's interest rate-setting committee. The two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee is shaping up to be potentially contentious, since several members and other prominent Fed officials have signalled their opposition to further loosening monetary policy.
THE TIMES
TRADER WITH TYPO IN CONTRACT ‘DID NOT HAVE A POINT’
By Alex Spence
It may need to brush up on its proof-reading, but JPMorgan Chase will not have to pay a trader whose salary was inflated by a missing decimal point in his employment contract, a court ruled yesterday. Kai Herbert, a commodities trader, claimed that he agreed to leave his job at UBS in Switzerland and relocate to the American investment bank’s South African business for an annual salary of 24 million rand (£2 million). JPMorgan argued that it had made a disastrous typographical error in Mr Herbert’s contract and intended to pay the trader only a tenth of the amount stipulated in writing — £200,000 a year. Mr Herbert did not show up for work at his new job after the discrepancy was discovered and JPMorgan rescinded the job offer in December 2010, Bloomberg reported.
