British hear prejudice in US tone on BP oil spill
| London
Surely, who but a small club of wealthy investors could shed a tear for BP, which has seen a quarter of its share value wiped out since the beginning of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?
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听Clue: remember what those initials stand for.
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听If you thought that fat-cat shareholders were the only losers from the oil giant鈥檚 pounding on the international markets, then spare a thought for tens of thousands of ordinary Britons whose futures are heavily linked to the firm鈥檚 fortunes.
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Shareholder dividends paid out by BP last year accounted for as much as 拢1 in every 拢7 paid by the biggest 100 firms into Britain鈥檚 pension funds and saving plans.
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听So when BP's shares plunge as a result of President Obama's initiation of a criminal investigation听into the Macondo oil well disaster, British pensions take a hammering as well.
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听It鈥檚 also why many on this side of the Atlantic are more than sympathetic to the challenge facing BP's embattled chief executive, Tony Hayward, who is expected to risk incurring further wrath in the US by defying calls from US senators to halt more than $10 billion worth of payouts due to shareholders this year.
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听Mr. Hayward, now believed to be battling to hang on to his job, returned to London from the US last night to speak to investors.
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听One commentator in a leading right-wing British newspaper this week accused President Obama of 鈥渧itriol鈥� that was 鈥渦nwise and potentially dangerous鈥� for saying that he was 鈥渆nraged and heartbroken鈥� after BP's attempts to staunch the flow had failed.
Prejudice against British?
听In the same , Stephen Glover suggested that the President鈥檚 impatience with BP owed as much to anti-British prejudice.
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听"I don't wish to sound paranoid, but it is pretty clear that Mr Obama does not much like anything that is British,鈥� he added. 鈥淭here is an anti-British undertow throughout his book Dreams From My Father, with slighting references to the country and its citizens."
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听Others, such as Prof. Michael Cox, an associate of the foreign policy think-tank Chatham House, agree that Obama may be 鈥渟lightly playing the British card鈥� in terms of deploying some 鈥渁nti-big business, anti oil鈥� rhetoric since the crisis.
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听鈥淚t鈥檚 true that he carries some different emotional baggage from, say, George W. Bush鈥檚 father, who had a different emotional memory towards Britain because of the Second World War,鈥� he adds.
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听It鈥檚 also true, says Professor Cox, that the Obama White House is not "quite so enthusiastic about the fabled 鈥榮pecial relationship鈥� with Britain because of the emergence of new geopolitical realities in the world, such as the emergence of India and China."
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听That said, Cox stresses that British-US ties remain firm, not least because of intensive cooperation at a diplomatic and security level, and because of the British contribution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
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听鈥淒on鈥檛 forget also that the American economy is still very, very dependent on inward investment by foreigners," he says, "and the biggest foreign direct investor in the US is guess who? The UK.鈥�
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听Allyson Stewart-Allen of International Marketing Partners, a consultancy specializing in advising European and US companies on developing their operations on either side of the Atlantic, also says that Obama has a 鈥渉igh need for fantastic relations with the UK for military and economic purposes.鈥�
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She adds, however: 鈥淚n terms of BP, the issue for the UK is that if British Airways and BAE systems and all of the big investors from this country are tainted by BP鈥檚 problems, and if there is potential for the country brand to start to decline in value, then that is the bigger worry. In a way 鈥� if people start to think ... 鈥榠t's British, it鈥檚 not very good.鈥� 鈥�
Americans want confidence, not self-deprecation
听From a damage control point of view, the situation hasn鈥檛 been helped by Tony Hayward apparently not being aware of how Americans receive messages, says Ms. Stewart-Allen, a Californian who also holds a British passport.
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听鈥淪elf-deprecation is something Americans do not do, and for Tony Haywood to say 鈥業 want my life back鈥� and to say 鈥榳e don鈥檛 have all the tools in the tool box鈥� is absolutely the wrong thing to say,鈥� she adds.
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听鈥淎mericans want confidence, we want assurance and we want to know that this guy, leading a multibillion dollar company, himself on a five million dollar plus salary knows what he is doing, and saying 鈥榳e don鈥檛 have all the tools in our tool box鈥�, or something close to that, does not inspire confidence.鈥�
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听鈥淭he other thing about the way Tony Haywood is being received - as a kind of stand-offish, unemotional, fairly stoic Brit 鈥� is that here in the UK it would be absolutely the right thing for him. There, it is not. We want to see contrition, we want to see serious upset, we want to see emotion.鈥�
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