P&O Ferries has played with people’s lives – seemingly because they knew they could

This affair has brutally exposed the weakness of UK labour law and thrown a harsh spotlight on the failure of the government to bring forward an employment bill, argues James Moore

P&O Ferries has faced fury over its sacking of 800 workers (PA)

The business world has a new pin-up after P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite’s performance before a pair of parliamentary committees.

There’ll be posters of him being Blu-Tacked to the bedroom walls of every a***hole who has ever taken possession of a CEO’s office. There’ll probably be a professional photo session booked so they can get a fancier-looking pic to frame for the British boardroom hall of fame. Or rather, infamy.

“Rejoice! The heat’s off us! The business bad-boy band has a new lead singer,” they’ll say. “We can be as nasty as we want thanks to the shameless one at P&O, because whatever we do we’re not topping that! We’re not going to break the law when we decide to sack our people.”