In water industry circles, the Whitehall codename for the contingency plan for Thames Water’s failure has taken on a new meaning. Project Timber was so-called because of fears that the collapse of Britain’s biggest water company could have far-reaching consequences. But water wags have been humming Monty Python’s Lumberjack song, noting the risk Thames’s predicament poses to the company’s biggest shareholder, the Canadian pensions behemoth Omers.
The fate of Thames, which serves 16 million customers, hangs in the balance. Rishi Sunak has even parachuted in his business aide, the former Morgan Stanley banker Franck Petitgas, to oversee talks between Thames, the regulator, Ofwat, and the environment department, the Financial Times reported.
