You’re having a gag, Sir Fred

Laughter in court as QC
says banker's fling would not
have affected his work

THE court battle over the gag stopping The Sun naming Sir Fred Goodwin's Royal Bank of Scotland mistress descended into farce yesterday.

There was laughter as the QC for the woman - who held a senior role at RBS - insisted she would have acted responsibly if a complaint had been made about him.
The court had heard she may have been in a position to know of any staff grumbles about Sir Fred's running of the bank - leading to a potential conflict of interest.
Her lawyers deny there was any connection between her fling with the ex-chief exec and RBS's near collapse.
The Sun is barred from telling readers the woman's job or employment history at RBS.
But our QC Richard Spearman told London's High Court yesterday: "It is plainly a matter of real, genuine, public interest.
"The lady in question had a role in which she might have expected to be the recipient of information from employees who had concerns about how the company was run.
"If she was having an affair with the chief executive of the company then a conflict of interest arises."
He suggested it might have been possible for someone in the woman's job to "kill off an inquiry" out of loyalty to Sir Fred, 52. He added: "Sunlight should be shed on dark corners of this case."

Legal battle ... laughter at London's High Court

He said the public has the right to know what happened at RBS - now propped up with £50billion of taxpayers' cash.
But the woman's QC Hugh Tomlinson yesterday insisted: "There is no evidence that the relationship had anything to do with the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland. There is no evidence of wrongdoing."
He claimed there was no public interest in revealing her name.
No complaints were ever made about married dad-of-two Sir Fred, who was forced out in 2008 after eight years at the helm. The woman also insists she was not promoted during the affair.
Last month Mr Justice Tugendhat lifted a ban preventing newspapers revealing that Sir Fred had an affair with the woman.
He made the ruling after Liberal Democrat peer Lord Stoneham used Parliamentary privilege to name the fallen banker in the House of Lords.
The Financial Services Authority will examine whether there was any breach of corporate governance rules.
Sir Fred was nicknamed Fred the Shred for his brutal costcutting style. He swaggered off with a pension of £700,000 a year and a lump sum of nearly £3million.
But following public outrage he agreed to reduce his payout by £342,000 a year. He lives in a mansion with Joyce, his wife of more than 20 years.
A High Court judge made the original gagging order in March after Sir Fred discovered The Sun planned to reveal the affair.
The Sun was even blocked from identifying Sir Fred as a banker. A ruling is expected at the end of next week