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Well looks like Hester had to fall in line at RBS and turn down his bonus....eventually.

This is how it seemed to work.

1. Cameron, Osborne and Cleggie give the majority of people who aren't well off a kicking for 20 months and then amazingly find themselves (Cameron anyway) in the lead in the opinion polls. As a result they decide that the electorate are generally thick as pig shit and therefore, the government can get away with virtually anything provided they put the right spin on it, so..........

2. In the week that Vince Cable announces new measures to strengthen shareholders rights to block bonuses, Cameron lectures shareholders about the importance of stopping bonuses, yet as a holder of 82% of the shares in RBS as part of the government, lets the Hester bonus go through - no problems. A bonus for a bank boss that has sacked 33,000 people and halved its share price in the last year.

3. Unfortunately, Cameron finds out that the electorate aren't as thick as pig shit and this does not go down very well.

4. In parliament, Cameron tries Plan B. He lies to parliament stating that it is all the Labour government's fault (you may have heard that one before) because they set up the contract so Cameron couldn't do anything about it.

5. Alas for Cameron it is shown that this is a blatant lie so he tries Plan C. Plan C is a statement that it is not a good idea for the government to get involved in bonus setting directly.

6. Millions of public sector workers who have had their salaries frozen for several years by this government and had the government threatening them with tearing up that portion of their contracts dealing with pensions, find it a bit strange that the same government cannot control bonuses in a nationalised bank.

7. Nasty Ed Miliband says that he will call for a parliamentary debate on the whole issue.

8 Cameron then uses Plan C, hit the panic button. Various communications go between government and Hester. Hester gives up his bonus but I would be surprised if that there were not any undertakings given that further down the line, when the yokels quieten down, the money will find its way to him by another route.

9 And so it goes on.

Cameron is asking Harry Redknapp to advise on future banker bonus bungs.!grin!

I heard on the Beeb that the government and bankers can do nothing about bonuses as the labour admin appointed a board to run RBS????

What is he paid a salary for? Doing his job? Whats his job? Making RBS profitable? So he failed?

Lord Myners, the Treasury minister in the Labour government who negotiated Hester's contract stated,

"There is nothing in the employment contract of Stephen Hester or any director of RBS which binds the company or its remuneration committee to pay a mandatory bonus. All matters relating to bonusers are at the full discretion of the borad of directors and the shareholders including UKFI who have elected them".

UKFI was set up by the government at the time of the crash to manage the capital that went from the government into banks such as RBS to keep them afloat.

As the overwhelmingly majority shareholder in the bank, the government could have made it clear what the consequences would be of the bonus being paid.

Cameron was telling porkies.

They are terrified that Hester will walk.....

Business waits for no government

But if he'd received his bonus how much tax would he have to pay? I am guessing a lot and haven't we lost this much need tax money for the sake of making a small point and then blaming him like he is solely responsible for this mess.

"They are terrified that Hester will walk....."

Yeah, the share price has halved in the last year. They must be on tenterhooks he'll leave having done such a wonderful job.

"then blaming him like he is solely responsible for this mess."

He is not responsible for the mess at RBS when they nearly went bust.

Don't you think a 1.2 million a year salary is sufficient for a guy who is presided over the share price halving which means the taxpayer has made a 50% loss in the last year on the ?45 billion of taxpayer money RBS took?

Seems like paying a bonus has become a habit. This is a chance for the government to help bankers quit their bad habits. Cameron and Cloggie need to show leadership here. We are all in it together????

It seems to me that the people running the pension funds etc who own most of the bank shares are not doing their jobs. Why do they reward failure???