{"id":19283,"date":"2019-10-15T14:08:54","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T13:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=19283"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:55:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:55:07","slug":"thomas-cook-government-inaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=19283","title":{"rendered":"‘Government failure on a grand scale’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The extent of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to save the iconic travel firm Thomas Cook was revealed today (October 15) in an inquiry by MPs investigating the collapse of the company.<\/p>\n

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The business\u00c2\u00a0select committee heard evidence from Thomas Cook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top executives including ex-CEO Peter Fankhouser and former chairman Frank Meysman among others — who confirmed that the government refused to provide help in the crucial days before the firm going bust.<\/p>\n

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In a response which shocked MPs, Fankhouser said that government ministers had made no contact at all with Thomas Cook executives in the week before the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collapse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In\u00c2\u00a0a further revelation, Fankhouser said the he had last met the transport secretary Grant Shapps on September 9, two weeks before the firm went bust \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and was told not to make any direct contact with government ministers.<\/p>\n

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Instead, Thomas Cook executives were instructed to contact only Department for Transport officials.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the meantime, government ministers from Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, Germany and Turkey all personally contacted Fankhouser and held detailed negotiations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c against a backdrop of total silence from the UK government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fankhouser said the firm was still hopeful that the UK government would follow through on a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098backstop facility\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of a maximum of \u00c2\u0141200m to see it through next winter after its debt pile had become unmanageable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But on Sunday afternoon (September 22), the day before the firm went bust, Fankhouser received a final call from a government official.<\/p>\n

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“I was awfully sad when I had the high official on the phone about five o’clock in the evening, because I knew, now I have to throw in the towel,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he told the committee.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The revelation comes as a letter sent by the Department of Transport<\/a> to Fankhouser has been made public, revealing the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to offer assistance that could have saved Thomas Cook.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs you are aware, financial intervention by the government is on an exceptional basis,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the letter read, dated Sunday, September 22. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAny financial assistance would represent [government] intervention in the commercial market and creates a significant precedent risk in the private sector.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When asked by MPs today whether government assistance would have saved Thomas Cook, Fankhouser confirmed it would have.<\/p>\n

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He said government support would have made Thomas Cook the best funded tour operator in Europe, and would have allowed it to stay afloat, giving it a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnew start\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that would have later enabled it to shake its onerous debt burden.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Thomas Cook executives questioned by MPs refused to confirm they would be returning any of their bonuses to acknowledge the part they played in the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe suffering [felt by Thomas Cook staff] that resulted from the collapse of the company as a result of management decisions made \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you were led to collapse, it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen by accident \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the suffering is disproportionate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Labour MP Peter Kyle told Fankhauser.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suffer in the same way that other members of staff have suffered. And some people were on extremely low income.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When asked whether he believed he should pay back his bonuses as a gesture of goodwill even if he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t legally required to, Fankhauser said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI worked exhaustively and extremely hard for that salary. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to consider [paying back bonuses] but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to make a decision today.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is understood<\/a> that legally, the government will likely only be able to claw back \u00c2\u01411m at most from Thomas Cook executives because of two-year limits written into director\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contracts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dozens of former Thomas Cook workers, all Unite members, attended today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hearing, many wearing their Thomas Cook uniforms. Many expressed their anger at the way they felt abandoned by both the company and the UK government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015b[Thomas Cook executives] should never be on the board of any company again,” Elaine Coxhall, who worked for Thomas Cook as air crew based out of Gatwick , told the Press Association (PA).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven on the Saturday before it went under we got an email saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0098It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be fine, business as usual, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a little bit of noise in the media but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be fine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lynn McKeller, who worked for more than three decades for Thomas Cook as cabin crew, expressed frustration about the lack of government contact with the company.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact Peter Fankhauser didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything to contact any government minister, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard,” she\u00c2\u00a0told the PA.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commenting after the meeting, Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bGrant Shapps has a lot of questions to answer about his role in Thomas Cook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collapse. The way in which the government washed it hands of Thomas Cook is extraordinary and shocking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe 3,000 Unite members, the majority of whom worked for the profit making airline, will be angry that they were sacked without warning and without pay, yet no government minister was even prepared to sit down with the company to discuss potential assistance,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile other governments throughout Europe were prepared to support parts of the Thomas Cook business and to seek to alleviate the damage faced by their tourism and transport industries, our government had installed barriers to prevent direct meetings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is no evidence that the DfT was ever fully across the detail of what Thomas Cook needed to stay afloat or even to assist in separating the profitable parts of the business, to allow for their survival,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Richardson went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis appears to be a governmental failure on a grand scale.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The extent of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to save the iconic travel firm Thomas Cook was revealed today (October 15) in an inquiry by MPs investigating the collapse of the company.   The business\u00c2\u00a0select committee heard evidence from Thomas Cook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top executives including ex-CEO Peter Fankhouser and former chairman Frank Meysman among others — who confirmed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1088,995,1233],"wps_subtitle":"Thomas Cook: MPs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 inquiry reveals shocking extent of government inaction","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24913,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19283\/revisions\/24913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}