Outlook: Co-op gets a bargain as Myners is in for a pound

Outlook I'm sorry but I have to report yet more outrageous behaviour at the Co-operative Group, where things are at least moving rather more quickly than in the FRC's offices. The society yesterday announced the appointment of no less a figure than former City minister and M&S chairman Paul Myners to lead its governance review and serve as the organisation's senior independent director.

Lord Myners is a City veteran who has worked at or near the top of various organisations and enjoys most exalted status. He should be able to command a high five-figure fee just for getting out of bed, let alone taking on a task this difficult.

Except that he's doing the job for £1. You read that right: £1. There's no "m" after it. Nor are there any zeroes that I've missed off.

Lord Myners is letting the side down here. At this rate he'll be booted out of his London club, and there'll be security men with pictures of him outside the City's Guildhall just in case he dares to darken its doors at a dinner.

Accepting £1 to do a job is just not the done thing. Fees are paid because people like Lord Myners are, in the words of that annoying L'Oreal ad, "worth it" even though they hardly want for money.

Still, if his work leaves us with a Co-operative movement that is again fit for purpose I'd be prepared to forgive him, even if the City won't. I'd even be prepared to forget that he allowed Royal Bank of Scotland's myopic directors to approve Fred Goodwin's unconscionable and undeserved pension when he was in Government.