The co-operative movement—organizations owned and democratically operated by their workers—has a proud history in Britain. But the more salubrious recent past of one of the country’s most trusted and ethical brands came back to haunt it with a savage vengeance.
Firstly, on 6 March, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned former Co-operative Bank chairman Paul Flowers from ever working in the financial services industry again following conduct that “demonstrated a lack of fitness and propriety.” Flowers was fired for using his work e-mail to send sexually explicit messages, using his co-op mobile phone to call premium rate chat lines, and for abusing cocaine, GHB, and ketamine. Flowers was once a Methodist minister, but his drug habit earned him the nickname “the crystal Methodist” in the U.K. press. He stepped down as chair in 2013 and in 2014 he was convicted for drug possession. The fact that the bank had a £1.5 billion (U.S.$1.9B) hole in its accounts when he was sacked did not help his cause either.
