Question Time was in Bath this week with a panel consisting of the likes of Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, and Jimmy Wales, the co founder of Wikipedia. As well as the topic of public sector worker strikes on the agenda, what really interested me as a First Time Voter, was the discussion over whether executive’s salaries were getting out of control.
This debate was largely focused around Justin King, the CEO of Sainsbury’s, who revealed that his salary was 900,000 pounds and due to this he received quite a battering from both fellow panellists and the audience. One audience member asked King whether he was really worth 40 times per year more than an average person, as well as if he was 40 times more productive. David Dimbleby followed on from this with the question ‘ What is it you do which is so special?’
As a first time voter, I was particularly disappointed in Justin King’s response as he lacked much character and a will to stand up for himself or any of his business achievements. Instead, he produced what I understood to be waffle, and argued that the question over his productiveness was ‘impossible to answer’, and that ‘only the shareholders could give a legitimate answer’. Even more irrelevant was when he continued by saying all he could do was to try and ‘deliver a successful business’ as well as praising the way his company put the salary figures of their executives into the public domain.
I would have much preferred to see a fighting and ‘ballsy’ Justin King, who could have stood up for himself and defended his success’s and experiences, such as the senior positions he has held at Marks and Spencer and Asda. Instead, the debate turned into a somewhat free for all against him. It got so embarrassing, that at one stage an audience member asked if he thought he could do a good job at carrying bricks up onto a roof!
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