2016: The year we thought the fat cats got their comeuppance – and then they turned up in a gold-plated room

Did the tide really turn? That’s up for debate

Arron Banks (second from left) with Donald Trump and Nigel Farage at Trump Tower

(Twitter/Leave.EU)

Was 2016 the year the public bit back at the fat cat?

It’s a case you could make, starting with what happened to Sir Philip Green, who epitomises the breed for many. He treated himself to a £100m super yacht for the summer but his holidays soon turned sour.

MPs variously described him as “an unscrupulous chancer” and “the unacceptable face of capitalism” while accusing him of “plundering” BHS, the retailer he used to own before selling it on to a serial former bankrupt with no retail experience. Under whose stewardship it duly collapsed.

In addition to the critical reports of two Parliamentary committees, the Pensions Regulator launched legal proceedings against him and Dominic Chappell, the aforementioned former bankrupt, in an attempt to recover at least part of the £571m deficit in the BHS pension fund.

Meanwhile over at Sports Direct another tycoon, Mike Ashley, was also in the crosshairs of politicians, unions and the media in the wake of revelations about the working practices at his retailer’s vast Shirebrook warehouse.

Staff were alleged to have been paid less than the minimum wage as a result of having to wait in long queues to go through security on their way out. It also emerged that a “five strikes” policy was in operation that could result in their being fired by the employment agencies that supplied them, and that slow workers were called out over the loudspeaker system.

Still darker claims of repeated ambulance callouts because scared staff turned up to work when they were sick, and of alleged sexual harassment, emerged.

Like Sir Philip, Mr Ashley also had to appear before angry MPs and put up with having his name and that of his company dragged through the mud. Independent shareholders in Sports Direct, who have previously satisfied themselves with knocking back the company’s attempts to give Mr Ashley a pay rise, even took the rare step of withdrawing their backing form the company’s chairman, Keith Hellawell.

Meanwhile, BP lost an advisory vote on its remuneration report, while more than a third of WPP shareholders rebelled against boss Sir Martin Sorrell’s deal. This month a third of investors in Asos, the online fashion house, similarly dissented against their executives’ pay.

Then there was Brexit, widely seen as a revolt against “the elite”, whatever that actually means. The majority of business leaders, and their representatives, backed Remain, which as it turned out was more of a hindrance than a help to the Remain campaign.

On becoming Prime Minister, Theresa May saw the way the wind was blowing and promised a shake-up of corporate governance, touting measures to curb soaring executive pay, and even suggesting the appointment of workers’ representatives to company boards to keep bosses honest. Something that is commonplace in, erm, Europe.

But did the tide really turn? That’s open to debate. Shortly after the vote in favour of Brexit, Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Arron Banks, his multimillionaire sugar daddy, were photographed in front of a gold-plated door with America’s billionaire President-elect Donald Trump in about as blatant a display of fat cattery as you could see.

As for Sir Philip, well he might have to put up with being plain Mr Green at some point in the New Year. But six months on, and the BHS pension is still in deficit while an appeal from Work & Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field to settle his fight with the regulators (an offer has been made but they’re millions apart) appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Armed with some of the best lawyers money can buy, he looks ready for a fight. Oh, and the Green family still have their yacht.

Sports Direct has taken quite a hit to its profits and has promised to be nicer to its staff. But Mr Ashley’s man Hellawell is still chairman of the board. The retailer announced yet another deal with an Ashley family company in its annual results. And it said it was preparing to take delivery of a new corporate jet to add to the company’s helicopters.

Ms May soon backtracked on her pledge to put workers on boards amid a city backlash over her reform plans.

And the year ended with news that the new M&S boss Steve Rowe’s pay could hit £4.2m thanks to a £1.8m share based bonus scheme linked to targets. Other executives have similar incentives in place. This at a time when workers are being forced to accept new contracts that reduce payments for unsociable hours that unions say will hit the longest serving, most loyal staff, the hardest. M&S also said it wouldn’t offer toilets that people with severe disabilities can actually use.

The year the public bit back? For the most part, City fat cats finished 2016 much as they finished 2015, a bit bloodied but essentially unbowed. And richer than ever.