Co-op, Labour and a betrayal of values

YESTERDAY, as the Co-op announced losses of £2.5billion – the worst results in its 150-year history – the Group’s new chief executive spoke of a ‘disaster’ that would ‘ s hock’ its ei ght milli on members.

The brutal truth, however, is that this was a calamity that could have been predicted years ago, as the Co-op moved far away from the noble objectives of the 19th-century Rochdale Pioneers to i mprove the l i ves of the working classes. I nstead of f ocusing on running a solid business in the interests of its wider membership, the group’s Leftwing r egional of f i ci al s were more interested in lining their own pockets and pursuing a socialist, Laboursupporting agenda. Money was poured into the Labour Party, including £1.2million of cheap l oans, and donations to 40 MPs, including Ed Balls, who received £50,000 to help run his constituency office. Rent boy-using Crystal Methodist Paul Flowers – despite being almost financially illiterate – was trusted to run and nearly ruin the Co- op Bank for apparently no other reason than his Labour credentials. Meanwhile, the Group pushed through disastrous deals – partly f unded by ordinary members – to buy the chronically under-performing Somerfield supermarket chain and the Britannia Building Society, which had made billions of pounds of bad loans in the build-up to the great financial crash. Such acts of hubris made a mockery of the Co-op’s supposedly strong ethical code.

But then, it is only too easy to spend other people’s money recklessly – as Labour has proved time and time again when it has been in power.