In defence of Myners

City minister Paul Myners has been taking a bit of flak from parts of the press of late. As I’ve blogged previously, I really don’t think he has much of a case to answer in respect of the Fred Goodwin pension issue, and there are other culprits much more worthy of criticism. For example, I sincerely hope that investors have the spine to vote against Tom McKillop’s re-election at BP (where he chairs the remuneration committee) given his direct role in this.

But more broadly the meejah hysteria (much of it clearly motivated by political considerations) has managed to completely overlook his role in… err… the survival of the banking system, instead focusing on the pension issue or what he did before becoming a minister. Notably the breakingviews.com slot in the Telegraph recognizes this today.

It would be helpful if more Labour supporters (and lefties in general) got a handle on what Myners is doing. IMO he has a much clearer appreciation of the lay of the land in terms of the whole capital markets/shareholders/governance/politics mash-up that this blog is principally concerned with than any other politico, and in his work for the Government (both before and after being appointed as a minister) has been willing on numerous occasions to challenge the City. And that might not be un-adjacent to why he is taking fire from some quarters currently. Therefore he deserves our support, to put it mildly.