Peter Hebblethwaite is Britain's new national bogeyman, the face of an ugly, brutal business that fired 800 crew members without warning.

He is insulted as a "gangster boss" and "morally bankrupt".

A week and a half ago, P&O Ferries had given notice to the seafarers via video message, they were then taken off the ships by security guards, some armed with balaclavas and handcuffs - a national outcry followed.

Philip Pickert

Business correspondent based in London.

  • Follow I follow

Now the managing director of P&O Ferries had to justify himself to two committees of the British House of Commons.

His appearance in Westminster - despite multiple apologies to those affected and their families - only made things worse.

Hebblethwaite admitted quite openly that he had broken labor laws but that he would do it again: "There was no doubt that we should have consulted with the unions beforehand, but we decided not to do it. "

Consultations with the unions had yielded nothing anyway, they would have opposed the layoffs, which were necessary, he said.

Otherwise P&O, which made heavy losses of £100m in 2021, would have had to lay off all 3000 employees.

"I would make that decision again, I'm afraid," Hebblethwaite said of his allegedly illegal actions.

The ship Hebblethwaite sinks

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called on Hebblethwaite to step down on Friday.

Shapps had previously predicted a customer boycott for the company, which operates the ferry service between Dover and Calais, among other things, and had ten million customers before Corona.

The chaos at P&O is also having an impact on retail.

About 15 percent of UK imports come via the ferries.

Parliamentarians grilled the P&O boss in a way that was remarkable.

Some attacks on the man who only became managing director in 2021 were brutal, also personally.

“When I read your resume, it struck me as fairly lacking in experience as a general manager.

Have you gotten yourself into this mess because you don't know what you're doing, or are you just a shameless criminal?" asked Labor MP Darren Jones.

The "Times" wrote smugly that the ship Hebblethwaite had begun to sink after this shot.

In a sarcastic piece, the traditional newspaper described the P&O boss as a "juicy specimen of the boss class" with "his expensive suit, his signet ring, his chunky watch and a suntanned, blooming visage," according to the Times columnist Quentin Letts.

There is no minimum wage on the high seas

After Hebblethwaite admitted he was required by law not to have talks with workers' representatives, a Conservative MP thundered: "You are morally bankrupt." ." Hebblethwaite said, half in agreement: "The brand has taken a hit." When asked about his salary, he said £325,000.

He was asked whether he would accept a bonus for this year.

After a moment's hesitation, he didn't rule that out.

Tabloids such as the Daily Mail have already begun investigating Hebblethwaite's personal finances, uncovering a £1.5million home in the idyllic Cotswolds.

The newspapers contrast this with the announced wages of - according to P&O figures - an "average" £5.50 an hour for the new seafarers (from Indonesia, India and Eastern Europe) that P&O has hired.

£5.50 is well below the UK minimum wage of £8.91, but this does not apply in international waters.

In addition, most of the ships are registered in Bermuda, where completely different rules apply anyway.

Employees were laid off in 2020

The fact that the 50-year-old P&O boss has to go to prison for violating labor law is not up for debate, but civil lawsuits for damages from the fired crew members could threaten him.

To counteract this, P&O has set up a £36.5million fund to compensate those who have been made redundant.

500 crew members have already accepted the five-digit compensation offered.

A representative of the Dubai-based P&O parent company DP World also had to testify before the parliamentarians.

CEO Jesper Kristensen backed Hebblethwaite.

In the background is the DP World chairman, "His Excellency" Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, who is a close confidant of the Gulf Monarchy government.

The global logistics group DP World ultimately belongs to the ruling family of the emirate.

DP World had (back) bought the British ferry company just three years ago, then the Corona-related recession hit.

Even then, in spring 2020, 1100 P&O employees had to leave.

Shortly before, however, the DP group had paid out a dividend of more than 300 million dollars to the owners, which caused criticism.

Now the outrage in Britain is so great that some politicians are demanding that DP World should also be boycotted and not given a license for one of the new free ports.

Ministers in the Johnson government, however, tended to backtrack on this.

Because DP World is a large investor that already operates the major cargo ports of London Gateway and Southampton.

DP has invested at least £2 billion in the kingdom and plans to invest another £1.5 billion, the Dubai-based group writes.