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Stephen Foley: Murdoch keeps the job he shouldn't have got

 

Stephen Foley
Friday 29 July 2011 00:00 BST
Comments

Outlook It always seemed unlikely that the BSkyB board would push James Murdoch from his position as chairman, despite the furore that surrounds him. The good corporate governance boat sailed when they appointed him in the first place, so they ought to stick by him now on a principle that he is innocent of any complicity in the phone hacking cover-up unless and until proved otherwise.

Ironically, he will probably be moderately more effective as chairman now that the News Corp bid has gone away and he doesn't have to recuse himself from half the boardroom discussions.

It remains the case, though, that Mr Murdoch's appointment flouted provisions of the Combined Code, the bar on chief executives moving up to chairman (too clubby) and on a chairman having ties to a major shareholder (far, far too clubby). It is beyond time the Code's principle of "comply or explain" is changed. Just comply.

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