Lonrho: the real offence
The image of the City has not been improved by the Lonrho affair; and when the Prime Minister uses angry words in the House of Commons to describe "this unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism" which Lonrho has presented to the public, it is natural and comforting to signify agreement. A great many pompous words have already been written and spoken about the business morality disclosed by the Lonrho fracas and no doubt many more are to come. What is surprising about these moralising words is the bizarre nature of the expectations their angry tone suggests have been disappointed. It is as if it all came as a very nasty surprise to Mr Heath and Ahe various pundits of the Times that business< Ann go to very considerable lengths indeed to ,a old paying taxes, that various tax havens have me into existence to meet such businessmen's quirements, that houses and estates as well as olls Royces and servants are regarded by businessmen as legitimate perquisites of the job, and that for particular forms of expertise and contacts very considerable sums will be paid. Politicians, not excluding Mr Heath, benefit very considerably from the perks of office; and it may well be doubted whether the" face of capitalism" which the Lonrho affair presents will strike the public as any more "unpleasant and unacceptable " than the face of politics as presented locally and nationally over the past couple of decades.
There are few more pleasing and gratifying sights than politicians anathematising people on their own side for their moral lapses; but it is necessary to ask, What duty is expected of businessmen that they should fail to take advantage of existing taxation laws? It may well be that the constant endeavour of the more enterprising businessmen to avoid paying excessive taxes is more conducive to the public good than would be a City run by haloed men with polished faces all busily reciting the Boy Scout's promise, while Frenchmen and Germans and Japanese scurried around Africa, South America and South-east Asia picking up orders that might well have come here. Businessmen, after all, are in it for the money and the power, not for the honour and the glory and the sanctimony; and it is just as well for the rest of us that they are, and that in their wheeling and dealing and treating they do at times (like most competitive yachtsmen) sail very close to the wind. It is aggressive entrepreneurs like Mr Rowland that this country needs; There is, however, some cause for public concern In the Lonrho affair; and this is in the part played by two men, a former senior Cabinet minister and a former senior intelligence officer. It is not surprising that the expertise and the contacts of people who have held high, or extremely secret, positions in the State should be of great commercial value to businessmen operating in fields where such expertise and contacts matter. What, surely, is" unpleasant and unacceptable" is that men like Mr Duncan Sandys and Mr John Elliott should be able to turn their public service to private and commercial advantage. This, like tax avoidance, is legal. It is condoned by our system. But nevertheless it stinks to high heaven.
