The Times
June 26, 2009
To be fair, there were two eminently qualified Brits lined up for Rio and BP. But Jim Leng quit as chairman-designate at Rio because he was against the Chinalco deal. And Paul Skinner did not get the BP job because he was for the deal.
Mr Svanbergs predecessor, Peter Sutherland, is an Irishman who had no previous experience of oil and gas. And the appointments of Mr du Plessis and Mr Svanberg can be seen as merely a continuation of the gradual internationalisation of the boardrooms of Britains biggest companies.
Nevertheless, Britain does seem to have a bit of a trade deficit in senior executives. Apart from the remarkable example of Sir Howard Stringer at Sony, Brits are not that well represented at the top of foreign companies, particularly since the ejection of Martin Sullivan from AIG.
Tony Hayward, BPs chief executive, says the lack of British candidates for top jobs reflects the fact that many companies are under stress and senior executives feel they cannot switch horses in mid-crisis. But it is not clear why that should particularly affect British candidates. Most companies around the world are under stress.
Mr Svanberg may be far from a household name in Britain and some of BPs shareholders in London were scratching their heads yesterday. But he does know many of the top City institutions from his time at Ericsson.
This gave him valuable experience of dealing with governments around the world, a key role for BPs chairman. A salesman by background, he has good knowledge of China and India. He also has experience in Russia, and knows some of the players involved in BPs battle for control of its TNK-BP joint venture.
At his previous companies he had a good record of tightening the nuts and bolts, where BP still has some work to do.
Although BP needed new blood, the fact that Mr Hayward and Mr Svanberg barely know each other means that there is no guarantee the relationship will work.
But they say they share the same views on many aspects of global business. And they say they gained many of their lessons in leadership from the same source – the Boy Scout movement.
The conspiracy theorists will be waiting for BP to drop Beyond Petroleum and switch to Be Prepared.
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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