Pit Closures: Axe may fall on 'hatchet man' Clarke after ruling
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.VILIFIED by his workforce as a hatchet man, Neil Clarke, the chairman of British Coal, may face the axe.
Mr Clarke was in an uncomfortable position even before the High Court said his management strategy was essentially unlawful yesterday. The spectacle of a nationalised industry acting illegally drew criticism last night from Tory backbenchers sceptical of the Government's energy policy.
But lack of confidence in a chairman appointed by Lord (then John) Wakeham, Secretary of State for Energy in the last government, dates from the investigation into pit closures by the Commons trade and industry select committee.
Members of the committee were told privately by British Coal that the chairman's knowledge of the industry was limited, an assessment, MPs claim, that Mr Clarke did not seek to challenge. By the time he gave oral evidence last week, Mr Clarke was embroiled in a fierce dispute with the committee over British Coal's promises to Parliament and the courts to 'maintain the fabric' of collieries earmarked in October for immediate closure.
British Coal has insisted it has not broken its commitments, but the episode raised doubts in the minds of Conservative MPs, including some members of the select committee, about the motives of the management. Under Mr Clarke, British Coal 'encouraged a rundown of the industry, has done nothing to seek export markets and feebly allowed imports of coal to become the main competition for their own product', a Tory MP said last night.
Criticism surfaced during questioning of Mr Clarke by Dr Michael Clark, who suggested British Coal might have a hidden agenda to concentrate on a small number of highly profitable pits rather that run a 'Woolworth's' operation, with many collieries.
The suspicion, already firmly in the minds of mining union leaders, is that British Coal without the 31 mines it was closing would have made an attractive privatisation deal, affordable and ideally suited to a management buy-out.
Neither the courts nor Parliament have evidence yet that British Coal's management has been organising the coalfields in a way most convenient to any buy-out they might consider, but the unions and backbench Conservative MPs last night said British Coal could not convincingly change its strategy without first changing its chairman.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments