After nearly 60% of shareholders reject Bob Dudley’s £14m package, the woman who signed off on it should fall on her sword
BP’s board didn’t see it coming. The oil company was braced for 20%, maybe 25%, of shareholders to vote against its pay report. But 59% was a drubbing. It is the second-biggest protest over pay at a FTSE 100 company. That inglorious league table, incidentally, is headed by Royal Bank of Scotland, in the days when the government had to be seen to rebel against Fred Goodwin’s egregious pension arrangements.
BP’s corporate blindness goes deep. Read the remuneration report and there is barely a hint of awareness that paying the chief executive, Bob Dudley, £14m in a loss-making year might cause a spot of bother with the owners. Prof Dame Ann Dowling, chair of the remuneration committee, concludes by saying she is “pleased” that BP’s pay policy has “appropriately recognised” the company’s excellent performance.
Related: BP shareholders revolt against CEO’s £14m pay package