RBS: Outrage Intensifies Over £1-Mln Bonus Paid to Bank Chief Hester

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Browne told BBC that Hester made in three days what a British soldier fighting in Afghanistan earns in a year.

"I think he should reflect on that,” he said. "He is working for a company which is five-sixths owned by us, the taxpayer, and I think he has to think like a public servant, not like someone who's there to line their own pocket. He needs to think like a public servant who has a duty to his country, not just his own wealth." No one's forcing him to take this money. He could struggle on with £1.2-million [Hester’s base salary]."

Similarly, Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna also criticized the bonus.

“I don’t think I would have paid any bonus in these circumstances,” he told BBC Radio

“This is a bonus being given by way of shares, so Mr. Hester may well get well over one million pounds. The government is the main shareholder here and ministers have said that shareholders should play are more active role in reining in excess where they see it. In the main this is a publicly-owned institution and the Prime Minister and others have failed to do so. People will be flabbergasted that nothing has been done about this.”

Umunna added: “Stephen Hester has done a good job but that’s what most of us are paid to do in our usual jobs. When we receive a salary we are paid to do a good job. You receive a bonus when you have done something out of the ordinary, something that bit extra… RBS wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the British taxpayer.”

Union leaders fulminated that the bonus to Hester comes amidst severe job cuts and pay freezes for millions of public sector workers.

"What planet does Stephen Hester and his banking chums live on?” said David Fleming, the national officer of the Unite union in a statement.

"Taking almost £1 million from taxpayers' pockets as a bonus is utterly disgusting and offensive to every working person across the country. How can a Royal Bank of Scotland senior banker who is responsible for sacking over 21,000 workers be rewarded in this way?"