There have been worse performers in front of a business select committee, but Simon Thompson, chief executive of Royal Mail, had a shocker on Tuesday. When the session ends with the committee chair – the normally mild-mannered Labour MP Darren Jones – issuing a warning about the seriousness of misleading parliament, you know it did not go well.
Jones’s irritation was understandable because Thompson arrived seemingly determined not to answer the questions he was asked. It took three goes to extract a minor piece of information about the use of “total shareholder return” metrics in his remuneration package. When Jones mistakenly referred to a “PVA” device, Thompson said he hadn’t heard of such a thing when it was obvious – and became clear two minutes later – that what was meant was a “PDA”, or postal digital assistant, the gadgets carried on delivery rounds.
