"corporate governance zealots"

There's a bit of a daft bit in the Sunday Times today from Patience Wheatcroft. It argues that "corporate governance zealots" will drive directors of PLCs towards private equity, where there is less hassle/scrutiny. The argument is that we don't want to shackle our risk-takers in all that corporate governance red tape.

I say it's daft as this is really an auto-pilot moan. I first heard it when I was working about the TUC, which is well over a decade ago, and it pops up every now and then.

In fact, pretty much exactly the same argument appears in... err... the Sunday Times last February accusing... err... "corporate governance zealots" of... err... driving PLC directors towards private equity.

That piece was written by Luke Johnson, latterly most famous as executive chairman of Patisserie Valerie. 

And say what you like about him, but he's clearly a risk taker.

Finally, it would be churlish to point out that the phrase "corporate governance zealots" has a bit of history in the newspaper business too. So I won't.