BP boss under fire

BP chairman Peter Sutherland today faced calls for his head amid claims his senior role at Royal Bank of Scotland raised doubts over his suitability.

Consultant PIRC, whose clients include institutional investors with around £1 trillion (€1.1 trillion) in assets under management, said shareholders should vote against his re-election at the oil major’s annual meeting next week.

Sutherland was a non-executive director of RBS from 2001 until February this year and sat on the remuneration committee under fire over former chief executive Fred Goodwin’s hugely controversial £703,000 (€777,000) pension.

“In our opinion his actions as a non-executive director of Royal Bank of Scotland and as a member of its remuneration committee, bring into question his suitability as BP’s chairman,” PIRC said.