Phoenix's £11million from MG Rover's ashes

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

A row has erupted over a potential £11million windfall for five shamed directors of bust motor firm MG Rover.

Politicians and union leaders are outraged at the prospect of a further round of payouts to five senior members of the Phoenix team, led by John Towers, taking the total they have received since the collapse of the carmaker to £42million.

The five - Towers, Nick Stephenson, John Edwards, Peter Beale and Kevin Howe - are entitled to the cash following the winding up of MGR Capital, the car finance offshoot kept separate from the rest of the group.

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Despicable: Payouts for the Phoenix team could range from £1.4million to £2.5million each

Payouts to the men could range from £1.4million to £2.5million each. By contrast the 6,000 staff at MG Rover's Longbridge plant in Birmingham received the statutory minimum payout of £6,500.

Former Longbridge union leader Adrian Ross said: 'It is absolutely despicable.'

Local MP Richard Burden said the directors had a 'moral obligation' to put the money into a workers' trust.

But a source close to the Phoenix directors said the comments of Ross and the Birmingham Northfield MP were deliberately misleading.

There is already a workers' fund with £2million of Phoenix money in it which is being used to recover a significant sum from the defunct firm. And a payout to former Longbridge workers will be made 'in months'.

But even if it runs to £10million, such a recovery would equate to just £1,700 each.

Phoenix bought Rover for £10 in 2000. But it struggled and failed five years later.

A damning report this year outlined how Towers and senior colleagues were able to walk away with tens of millions of pounds.

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