Kelly’s Eye
LESS than a month ago I drew attention here to Labour leader Keir Starmer taking care to be pictured with a Union Jack in the background. I suggested – slightly tongue in cheek – it was in the belief that “overt flag placement plays well with the alien tribe of voters with whom the party wishes to become reacquainted in former heartlands.”
It turns out that I was closer than I knew.
A leaked internal report last week recommended precisely that, and for precisely those reasons, along with embracing army veterans and dressing smartly at war memorials.
Over the years, this column has frequently sought to demonstrate how the Labour Party’s complacency about its previously traditional voters long ago congealed into a scarcely concealed, nose-holding disdain for everything from their aspirations and fears to the food they eat and what makes them laugh. That notorious Gordon Brown “bigoted woman” unguarded remark about Rochdale’s Gillian Duffy was no accident.
But nothing I can ever write could better illustrate my point than Labour requiring a market research agency to be told what its once natural supporters think.
Or for that intelligence to be delivered in such turgid, mechanised prose, never uttered by any sane person in day-to-day conversation, as a “sense of authentic values alignment.”
Nor, for that matter, could I hope to improve on the satire provided by Labour MP Clive Lewis’s criticism of the flag recommendation as “Fatherlandism” – betraying the usual dismal assumption that the merest hint of a Union Jack is all that’s required to transform the ignorant populace into a goose-stepping mob.
Boris Johnson is truly blessed in the quality of his parliamentary opposition.
MONEY men handling the collapse of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia empire are set to earn £25million in fees.
Documents have shown accountancy giant Deloitte, now the group’s administrators, estimate the firm will rake in up to £1,200 an hour.
An Arcadia worker – who had been earning £13 an hour and is now due to lose her job – described the amount being pocketed by Deloitte as “absolutely disgusting” and a joke.
The employee, who asked not to be named, said: “We been trying to get information from them but it’s always, ‘We cannot confirm, we cannot confirm’.”
Deloitte, along with PwC, EY and KPMG, is one of the group of powerful accountancy firms known as the Big
Four. It was appointed administrator for 27 Arcadia-linked businesses in November.
The accountant is tasked with raising as much money as possible from selling assets to pay back those left out of pocket by Arcadia’s collapse.
Around £500million has been recouped so far, mainly through the sale of its brands, websites and some stock. Average “time costs” for Deloitte staff is expected to be more than £600 an hour but in one area of work it is £1,202.
Online fashion giant Asos has bought Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge. Its rival Boohoo has acquired parts of Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton.
Nevertheless, Deloitte has failed to find buyers for Arcadia’s 400-plus stores, triggering thousands of job losses. Documents posted at Companies House showed Arcadia’s two key operating companies went to the wall, owing nearly £70million to thousands of unsecured creditors.
However, it admits the true scale of Arcadia’s debts will be “materially higher” as the initial calculation does not include the shortfall in its pension fund and money owed to HMRC.
The black hole in the pension fund has been estimated at £300million and Sir Philip, 68, is under pressure to pledge to plug any deficit after the sale of assets.
A Deloitte spokesman said: “This is one of the largest and most complex retail administrations in UK history, which spans eight brands and 27 separate companies.”
Around 5,000 shop workers will lose their jobs and another 2,450 staff were told on Monday they were being axed after Boohoo’s buy up.
Arcadia employed up to 13,000 people when it collapsed in December. Around 2,000 staff have already been made redundant.
More than 150 former staff are to launch a legal battle over their redundancies, claiming Arcadia failed to follow the correct consultation procedures.