Ex- Bell Pottinger staff choked on their cornflakes when they settled down to read the news on the last Sunday in October. They’d read The Sunday Telegraph and the self-serving interview with James Henderson, the CEO who led the business to its dramatic collapse following the racially divisive work it did for the Gupta family in South Africa. 2017 may feel distant but the wounds are still raw.
Having spoken with various former partners and staff Henderson’s interview puts a whole new slant on the episode. One seemingly at odds with the facts.
In an attempt to minimise his responsibility he stated that no one sat him down to talk through the severity or the complexity of being involved with the Gupta’s. Yes, 2017 is a long time ago, but has he really forgotten that in December 2016 he told the heads of the various divisions, who had raised concerns, that the contract would not run on into January 2017 ? That he was shown examples of the sorts of work being carried out by the Gupta team in March/April 2017 ? And that he knew many members of staff had been receiving abusive emails, and messages on LinkedIn, from angry South Africans?
Yet he says he knew nothing.
He says, and Robert Mendrick accepts without challenge, that the whole problem came from leaks of email ostensibly by Lord Bell. That may be part of it, but James Henderson and the other Directors knew what sort of work was being done long before that. It is inconceivable that he was not aware of the reputation issue building when he told colleagues that the work would not run on into 2017.
The team who worked on the Gupta matter have consistently and categorically maintained from the earliest possible time that James Henderson was fully aware of what was going on. It was said that he was doing the Gupta work as a way of getting the ANC Election campaign.
Henderson says he feels some guilt for those who lost their jobs, and follows this up by referencing his own troubles and inability to buy a loaf of bread. What he fails to mention is how his decisions really impacted others. Not just the job losses and the reputation hit of being stigmatised for being at Bell Pottinger. No, for partners it was even worse when the liquidators, BDO, started pursuing them relentlessly for the entirety of their salaries for the last year of trading. Several suffered considerable stress and mental health issues driven by the threats that they would lose their homes. Others had to take loans to pay off what they ended up handing over. Perhaps when Henderson’s new venture starts making that million pound profit he spoke of, tax free, in Dubai, he might pay some of them back.
What happened to Bell Pottinger was a result of appalling management, terrible decision making, and hubris. What was done to South Africa was disgraceful. What happened to 300 excellent people was wrong. But for Henderson to misrepresent it for his own rehabilitation is simply shameful.
