What can Green achieve?

Long/Short the UK

More political posturing from Cameron.

He took on Lord Browne who left BP with a safety culture in tatters, now we have a tax exile to help fix the books.

It's a bloody joke...

Chuck Unsworth

So, here we go again, the old 'tax status' game. If Green is doing illegal things then let HMRC sort him out. If not, what's the problem?

As to Cable, old habits die hard. He's doing his usual thing of slur by implication. Let him speak out or simply shut up.

Alan Douglas

"He is nothing like the cadaverous technocrats who usually sift through Whitehall accounts. "

That is the best reason he should be welcomed - austerity with a PURPOSE, beyond the hair-shirts.

Alan Douglas

Pot Head

Well for a start, he could pay tax in the UK!

Barry Bilge

Green is there to take the flak.

If the Government was serious about saving money it needs to stop doing things. Trying to make slivers of savings everywhere will meet resistance everywhere. Remove some of the onerous statutory duties on the public sector.(equality and diversity nonsense for a start)

NambyPamby

Green may not do austerity in his personal life but the point is that his business success has been founded on ruthless cost cutting.

Just ask any of his suppliers.

Ben G

What on earth can Green's report achieve, if it is only to be presented to Osborne weeks before the spending review is announced? Will George really rip up the Treasury figures, and say; 'Hang on, Philip Green says we must centralise all government purchasing. Stop devolution to local levels! Let's set up a central Government Department of Administrative Affairs! Send for Sir Humphrey!'

Sure, Green is a successful retailer. But what has retailing got to do with government? Success is not always transferable. Would Green commission a report from, say, David Beckham on how to run his shops? No.

I really thought we had seen the end of this celebrity-obsessed nonsense after Labour's defeat.

chris as usual

I have long "joked" to my friends that Tesco should run the Police and the NHS. For the obvious reasons.

Mr Green's appointment is in line with this "joke".

I do believe that he, like Tesco will get bogged down in trying to make Government itself more efficient. They are too wily and will see him off.

However, I stick to my original "joke" that such skilled managers, entrepreneurs and leaders would make a much better fist of overseeing some of our most inefficient and outdated public services.

I've put my crash helmet on for the response.

Simon Stephenson

Here's a thought.

If the government is so convinced that the likes of Sir Philip Green are capable of re-designing the provision of public services, then why doesn't it it introduce them incognito, and wait until realisation before reaping the rewards it sees as automatic?

That way, at least, it doesn't have to be devious in hushing up flops that it has previously milked as being inevitable successes.

Maggie

I'm absolutely appalled. The announcement has been made by Francis Maude who has been associated with every catastrophic disastrous decision made the the Tory Party in the past 20 years. He is the world's worse judge of character. At a time when the Conservatives are trying to portray themselves as reformed and non-sleazy he manages to engage the services of a barrowboy tax exile on the lookout for a peerage. Francis Maude has brought the Conservative Party into disrepute yet again.

TomTom

Unfortunately Philip Green did draw a £1 billion cash dividend from BHS after HBOS and his friend Peter Cummings releveraged the business and took an equity stake. It is unusual for a mainline lender to take an equity stake when the main shareholder withdraws £1,000,000,000 in cash to take home to Monaco.

Whatever happened to HBOS and Peter Cummings ? Couldn't they advise Cameron ?

strapworld

David Cameron does like flirting with Non Doms does he not!

I would have thought a three man committee of sugical minded MP's such as Redwood, Carswell and Field would have done a far better job. At least those three are closer to real people, unlike Green who doesn't even live here!

Nick

That Saab advert is really annoying and makes scrolling up and down CoffeeHouse pages a nightmare.

Please could you remove it.

AF

If Greens interview on radio 4 this morning was anything to go by he should realise how wasted his talents will be,his inquisitor Nick Cosgrove was more interested in his tax return,moving on to his wifes and her directorship of Arcadia,why does she live in a tax haven monaco,all this was fielded quite reasonably by Green,he was then asked about his association with Naomi Cambell,Green replied that he knew her,"what did she say about the blood diamonds"Green said he has never discussed such matters with her,"What do you know about the blood diamonds" from the inquisitor Nick Cosgrove, Green said "the same as everyone else who reads the papers",no wonder we cannot be served by the best when our bbc and other media muck rakers love to go off topic,Green should have offered the chance to Nick to sort out the nations woes,and forwarded his recommendation to Cameron,and then got on with his life.

Woodbine

Listening to Green on R4 this morning, I was hoping to hear of a refreshing and new approach, only to be disappointed.

He spoke of centralising procurement and improving processes. Which is what Peter Gershon spoke of ten years ago.

He will soon realise that the issue is changing the processes (some of which are enshrined in law) without leaving a string of suppliers that have a monopoly hold on the public sector.

justathought

If the Green review leads to a reduction in the bloated workforce of government then he has my full support. Frankly its ludicrous that there should be so many government purchasing points when one central one could do it more efficiently.

I have never understood why the civil servants had to occupy such plush offices in Whitehall when there is such a shortage of hotel accommodation in Central London. The sale of those leases alone could reduce the national deficit, and while he's at it he should look at improving the value for money of the whole government estate. The Crown Estate does a much better job and is a model worth copying.

MartinW

What relevence to the argument is the snide comment "... hard-partying, perma-tanned, rotund and ostentatious figure ..."? Is it not more adult and intelligent to avoid personal abuse? Anyway, surely any help in examining ways to cut waste is to be welcomed.

AF

Pot Head,
Green told his inquisitor on radio 4 that he and his company had paid some £400 million in tax.
have another rollup, get back on your cloud.

Tiresias

It would have been better for everyone if the Government had taken a holiday in August and resisted the urge to make a series of silly and trivial announcements designed only to provide something to catch a headline. This cocktail of rich figure on the edge of celebrity, undefined advsory role, absurdly short timescale incompatible with any actual achievement and a vague sense of stink was typical of the Labour years. It was a crass and useless tactic then. It will be crass and useless now. Green will achieve as much as Sugar did. Nothing.

Chris lancashire

Green is a hugely successful businessman and if he can legally avoid paying the ridiculous and spiteful high level of taxes introduced by Labour (and so far the Conservatives haven't had the nerve to roll them back to reasonableness) then good luck to him.
What all the lefties don't appreciate (except the few who manage to earn good money) is that there is a level of taxation beyond which people will simply begin to avoid - and we have already surpassed that level.
As for Green's effectiveness on government waste - the same as Gershon's - nil. One man, however good, against an entrenched public sector is always going to fail. This is a political will problem not a business problem.

Baron

Sir Peter Gershon Mk II, if that, and Pot Head @ 10.18 sums up in just one sentence what he should start with.

Simon Stephenson

AF : 12.12pm

"Pot Head, Green told his inquisitor on radio 4 that he and his company had paid some £400 million in tax. have another rollup, get back on your cloud."

As a matter of interest, did Green also say whether it would have been feasible for any of the income/gains upon which this tax was paid to have been removed from the UK tax net? Also, as a comparison with the £400m that has been paid, it would be instructive to know exactly how much tax hasn't been paid by virtue of ownership and residence arrangements designed and put in place for no other reason than to remove income and gains from the UK tax net.

And, before anyone starts ranting about legality, I'm not suggesting that anything Green has done is illegal. The fact remains, however, that 99% of citizens making their living in the UK economy pay UK tax according to the letter and spirit of the regulations. I'm not surprised that a number of them find it difficult to accept being lectured about what to do by one of the 1% who don't.

Chuck Unsworth

@ Simon Stephenson

"The fact remains, however, that 99% of citizens making their living in the UK economy pay UK tax according to the letter and spirit of the regulations."

Do you have the slightest evidence for that astoundingly sweeping statement? If so, put it up.

Simon Stephenson

Chuck Unsworth : 1.43pm

OK, for 99% substitute "everyone employed under PAYE in a position where they have no influence over the structure of their remuneration". This is perhaps 99% of all employees. I have neglected the self-employed where the proportion of tax avoiders/evaders may be greater than among those employed under PAYE, and also those who derive their income from the black economy.

So let's replace my 99% with 95%. Does this significantly alter the point I made about how distasteful it will be to many to see positions of influence in social policy being given to the likes of Green?

Pot Head

LOL, BBC reporting that Green can't do any TV interviews today because he's in Monaco. PR fail!

Neil Wilson

That Philip Green can shift dividends to Monaco tax free is a consequence of our tax system. They should direct their ire at parliament where the blame lies. Philip Green is just well advised and anybody here or anywhere else with those resources would do exactly the same.

Nobody has to pay a penny more tax than the law requires and nobody should. If you want to do any more give to charity - which incidentally Philip Green does by the bucket load.

Neil Wilson

"OK, for 99% substitute "everyone employed under PAYE in a position where they have no influence over the structure of their remuneration". This is perhaps 99% of all employees. "

Go start a business and take some risk. Then you'll find there are lots of ways of avoiding tax.

Anne Wotana Kaye 1

Green? Isn't he the bloke who buggered up Dorothy Perkins and other cheap, but reliable chains of shops? Buy and destroy, a veritable Atilla the Retailer. Better he should posture with his ageing business partner Kate Moss, a right couple!

Baron

Simon Stephenson @ 1.11:

Spot on, well said, unquestionably right.

The great unwashed lack the funds to go for any of the clever tax arrangements. These may all be legal, but if the guy wants to tell the rest of us how the mechanics of taxing/spending should be arranged he should be UK resident and UK domicile for both his business as well as private accounts.

If he felt personally the impact of the ‘full’ taxation on himself he would be more likely to take by far more aggressive approach to waste cutting.

Chuck Unsworth

@ Simon Stephenson

"So let's replace my 99% with 95%."

Why should we? Where's your evidence for this new figure? This is just make it up as you go along stuff, wildly plucking figures from the air.

Both 'the letter and spirit'? How on earth do you know?

And you 'neglected' the self-employed? Do you have any understanding as to their numbers in relationship to the total numbers of those in work?

You presumably also believe that avoidance is precisely the same as evasion.

Mr Samgrass

Centralising procurement. He could give it the title of the Crown Suppliers. What goes around etc.

2trueblue

The man could pay tax like the rest of us.

Simon Stephenson

Neil Wilson : 4.50pm

"That Philip Green can shift dividends to Monaco tax free is a consequence of our tax system. They should direct their ire at parliament where the blame lies. Philip Green is just well advised and anybody here or anywhere else with those resources would do exactly the same."

What, you mean that parliament has just been incompetent in leaving loopholes through which clever accountants and lawyers can drive a coach and horses? There's been no lobbying by the rich and the multi-nationals for these loopholes to be left in place?

Moreover, are you really suggesting a level of general morality that would cause the entire population to game the system for personal advantage, should there be an opportunity to do so? If so, how can you argue that we're a society worth preserving?

Chuck Unsworth

@ Simon Stephenson

And you seriously think that Law is the same thing as Morality?

Holly ......

An awful lot of 'penis envy' going on here.
The better the idea the more negative the comments become.
This was the norm during the election.
Did a fat lot of good then as well.

Simon Stephenson

Chuck Unsworth : 3.13pm

No, of course I don't think that law is the same thing as morality, but if probity is to be redefined as "behaviour within the law" then we'll need to get busy expanding and rewriting laws to make illegal those behaviours currently kept under control by social custom. Will this make us a better society? I don't think so.

Chuck Unsworth

@ Simon Stephenson

Well you'd better get started on changing human nature, never mind the legal framework. Probity is a remarkably rare commodity - almost to the point of non-existence in modern society. That is largely because those legislating have been so stupid and so arrogant as to believe that drafting legislation and placing it in the Statutes is the same as defining and enforcing a moral code.

The root cause for the astounding levels of legislation in recent years has been just that. Thus it can be seen that expanding or re-writing laws clearly has (and will have) no effect whatsoever. Indeed I'd go further and observe that the introduction of these swathes of legislation have actually destroyed all personal responsibility and choice.

You refer to 'social custom', which is a somewhat nebulous term - perhaps you'd care to define it and its origins. However I'd suggest that the disastrous failure of religious leadership (of all denominations) has been the major contributory factor in the deterioration in ethical standards of society. And believe me, I'm no member of the God Squad, either.

David

The appopintment of Green is a monumental irrelevance.

Cameron should get a grip on the Permanent Secretaries, many of whom are unsuitable by education, character and inclination, to run the delivery mechanisms of the state.

These people are very clever at defending fiefdoms and budgets, not very clever at managing efficiently and delivering maximum outputs for minimum inputs.

This is government by gimmick. We have had plenty of such initiatives from Lord Rayner (M&S) onwards. What happened to Gershon?

If Green thinks the money can be saved by centralising all purchasing, he knows nothing about how the Civil Service works (or fails to).

Government needs to stop doing things.

God help us.