In an interview on Newsnight Jeremy Paxman asked Vincent Cable about executive pay and how the government wishes to combat the ever increasing salaries of executives.

Cable admitted that he had moral issues about the sums of money being earned as such but said that his job as Business Secretary was to ensure that shareholders controlled executive pay. More importantly he said that he wanted to make sure that executive pay matched performance.

Bob Diamond, CEO of Barclays, was mentioned as one person whose salary was causing concern.

Paxman pointed out that 60% (I have no idea whether this number is correct) of shareholders approved of Bob Diamond’s salary. If 60% approved of Diamond’s pay what right had the Business secretary to object. Cable accepted that he would have no such right in such a situation.

Neither of them addressed the real issue, which is who are the real shareholders

Read the full article Corporate representation and executive pay