Down and Out in the City of London
Why progressives should not cheer Lord Browne’s resignation.
By Alex Levy, Wesleyan University
Monday May 7, 2007
In Avenue Q, the deliciously camp Broadway musical, Gary Coleman (played by a rotund black woman—don’t ask) confesses to a newly homeless friend that he can’t help but take pleasure in his friend’s misfortune. It’s a classic case of schadenfreude, he explains, in song. When figure skaters fall on their asses, when vegetarians unknowingly eat pork, when straight-A students get B’s, and when CEOs fall from grace, we all feel an inevitable smidgen of glee.
Well, schadenfreude is foaming from the crooked-tooth mouths of the London press right now. Lord Browne, 59, the former CEO of BP, the mammoth energy company, resigned yesterday after admitting to lying to a court about how he first met his former lover, Jeff Chevalier, a 27 year-old student originally from Canada. Browne said under oath that he met Chevalier whilst running in London’s Battersea Park. In reality, he met Chevalier though an escort agency.
The very reason Browne found himself in court was because of the London press. He was seeking an injunction against the Mail on Sunday, a London tabloid that was attempting to publish his estranged lover’s memoirs. Like a proper English gentleman, Browne is deeply reserved in manner, valuing prudence and discretion above all. Throughout his illustrious and wildly successful career—the Daily Telegraph describes him as the “cleverest and most successfully British businessman of the past twenty years”—he conspicuously avoided letting his sexuality creep into the public sphere. He stayed in the closet with his Savile Row suits. His abrupt resignation means he forfeits $30 million in severance pay. But it’s not the loss of money that is likely to pain Browne—it’s the shame.
Sure, BP is an oil company. And we all know that progressives loathe oil companies. But progressives should not delight in Browne’s downfall for two key reasons. First, because Browne was a product of the meritocracy. In 1998, he was named a Knight of the British Empire and in 2001 he was awarded a life peerage, effectively finishing his assent to the top of British society, a society that is still very much dominated by landed gentry. Browne is not landed gentry; he is the son of a Holocaust survivor and a British Army officer. He earned a place at Cambridge, where he graduated with highest honours in physics. He joined BP as an apprentice during his second year at university and diligently worked his way up the company’s hierarchy, becoming CEO in 1995. A strong supporter of New Labour and a close confidant of Prime Minister Blair, one of Browne’s first decisions as CEO was launching the “Beyond Petroleum” campaign, seeking to make BP a greener company. Unlike his counterparts at American oil companies, Browne does not deny the existence of the global warming and has been a vociferous supporter of investment in alternative energy. That is not to say that his company isn’t guilty of immense wrongdoing-most notably, the explosion earlier this year in Texas City that left 15 dead and was attributed to “willful and egregious violations of [OSHA] safety rules”, according to the Guardian. But Browne isn’t exactly Lucifer incarnate either.
The second reason why progressives should feel sorry for Browne is because of the Pink Plateau, the glass ceiling that prevents gays from succeeding in business. There is not a single openly gay chief executive at any of the FTSE 100 companies, the index of London’s most prominent businesses. Stonewall, the influential British gay rights group, said yesterday that they attribute Browne’s decision to remain in the closet to the international nature of his work. He routinely negotiated deals with Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi and President Putin of Russia. In Libya, homosexuality remains a criminal offence; in Russia, it was only recently removed from the list of mental disorders.
Yes, homophobia in Libya and Russia is appalling. But perhaps more important in regard to Browne’s demise is the palpable homophobia that still permeates the City, London’s financial district. I know this because I’ve experienced the environment first hand. This summer, I will be working in London at a large international risk management company. My second interview at the company was with their managing director, a burly Tory who wore a Patek Philippe watch (approximate cost: $35,000). He took a liking to me and, clearly not detecting my patent homosexuality, asked me if I was enjoying any London “pussy.” Such is the corporate culture of the City. I wish I could tell you that I reprimanded him for his offensive word-choice. But I didn’t. I also didn’t come out. I simply smiled awkwardly and waited for him to change the topic. Pathetic, I know, but I really wanted the internship and its handsome pay. Behold, the slippery slope that keeps so many gay Londoners in the closet. When you want to get ahead, it doesn’t pay to be gay.
So, progressives should curb their glee. This is not a time for schadenfreude. A savvy business leader who wanted, more than anything else, to keep his sexuality private has not only resigned in disgrace from the only company he’s ever worked for, but has to watch as the details of his sex life are splashed across the pages of every London newspaper. But at the heart of the issue is really the role of sexuality in business life. Because here in London, homosexuality and business mix like oil (pun intended) and water.
Alex Levy is currently studying abroad at the London School of Economics. He was a summer 2006 Campus Progress intern. He can be reached at a.levy@lse.ac.uk.
--------
Comments
Leave a comment about this article below. For more discussion, visit our community page and sign up for your own Campus Progress blog!
|
!
