BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY SPLIT UP? HOW LONDON MARATHON 2020 TO HANDLE THE RACE FOR GOLD WITH THE INS AND OUTS OF LATEST SPORTS TECH P20 DIVORCE P18–19 THURSDAY 16 JANUARY 2020 ISSUE 3,535 CITYAM.COM FREE POWER PLAY Putin plots a path BACKLASH to preserving his place at the top OVER STATE AIDALEX DANIEL GAMBLE In a letter to transport secretary icism from railway bosses, who said Grant Shapps on Tuesday, Walsh the move would encourage more peo- @alexmdaniel wrote that Flybe’s owners “want the ple to travel on planes, rather than THE GOVERNMENT has found itself taxpayer to pick up the tab for their use less polluting trains. embroiled in a row over state aid, mismanagement of the airline”. The Rail Delivery Group, a trade after its decision to save struggling “This is a blatant misuse of public body, said rail was “one of the green- regional airline Flybe sparked a series funds,” he said. est ways to travel and any review of of complaints from rival carriers. Walsh was joined by Ryanair and APD that encourages more people to British Airways (BA) owner Inter- Easyjet in opposing the plan. A fly domestically would limit efforts to national Airlines Group (IAG) Ryanair spokesperson said: tackle the climate crisis”. yesterday filed an official “We have already called for Downing Street insisted it remains complaint to the Euro- more robust and fre- committed to free market economics, HARRY ROBERTSON President and prime minister, pean Commission, after quent stress tests on fi- with any funding given to the airline meaning his 20-year grip on Russian its boss Willie Walsh on “a strictly commercial basis”. @harrygrobertson politics is longer than Stalin’s. He is castigated the govern- The airline serves 8m Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the RUSSIA’s prime minister and its legally required to step down as ment for deferring passengers a year across Department for Business, Energy and entire cabinet quit their posts President in four years’ time, having Flybe’s tax bill as part the UK and Europe Industrial Strategy added that the yesterday after President Vladimir now served two consecutive terms. of a rescue package. government “has not given any state Putin said he will hold a referendum Under Putin’s plans, presidential The deal is also nancially weak airlines aid to Flybe”. on sweeping constitutional changes power would be weakened and the thought to include a so the taxpayer does not The European Commission said: which could allow him to keep power powers of the prime minister, £100m loan, as well as up to have to bail them out.” “We stand ready to discuss with the when his term ends in 2024. parliament and the advisory State £30m in contributions from Johan Lundgren, chief execu- UK the compatibility and proposed The resigning prime minister Council would be beefed up. its shareholders. IAG said this contra- tive of Easyjet, added: “We do not public measures with the EU state aid Dmitry Medvedev said he wanted to The changes would let Putin, who is vened EU state aid rules because tax- support state funding of carriers.” rules. Any state aid intervention give Putin room to make “all the 67, either become prime minister payers would be subsidising an airline Ministers said they would review needs to be designed so that competi- necessary decisions” before the once again or head of the State that competes directly on BA routes. the existing air passenger duty (APD) tion is not distorted.” changes come into effect. Council, keeping his grip on Russia. One of Flybe’s biggest investors is rules — the tax on flights taking off Since coming to power Putin has Virgin Atlantic, a major BA rival. from the UK. However, this drew crit- £ ANALYSIS: P4 moved between the posts of £ CONTINUES ON P4 Secrets and flies: Ghosn says not even his family knew of his escape plan ALEX DANIEL under-reporting earnings, breach is no one in the family should be “And the second day, 24 hours reporting his income for years, and of trust and misappropriation of aware.” from this, I received a visit from had been siphoning off corporate @alexmdaniel company funds, which he denies. Ghosn also claimed the French the French ambassador who told money for personal use. FORMER Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn Speaking to Reuters, he declined ambassador warned him against me: ‘Nissan is turning against you’. Nissan declined to comment has given advice to would-be to clarify the details of his escape his former company just before his And this is where I realized that further on Ghosn’s accusation, fugitives, as part of an interview in following media speculation that November 2018 arrest. the whole thing was a plot.” other than to say he was found to which he also accused the car giant he fled inside a musical instrument “Frankly, I was shocked by the Former Nissan chief executive have committed “fraudulent” of plotting against him. case. However he proffered a token arrest and the first thing I asked ‘is Hiroto Saikawa told a press activity by the US markets Ghosn fled Japan last month of wisdom: “The first rule of when make sure Nissan knows so they conference hours after Ghosn’s watchdog and that French while awaiting trial on charges of you want to do something like this can send me a lawyer,’” he said. arrest that Ghosn had been under- authorities were investigating. FTSE 100▲ 7,642.80 +20.45 FTSE 250▼ 21,713.11 -42.94 DOW▲ 29,030.22 +90.55 NASDAQ▲ 9,258.70 +7.37 £/$▲ 1.303 +0.001 £/€▼ 1.167 -0.002 €/$▲ 1.160 +0.003 02 NEWS THURSDAY 16 JANUARY 2020 CITYAM.COM SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED US and China sign long-awaited phase one trade agreement, pausing damaging global trade war THE CITY VIEW Flybe bailout reveals Johnson’s priorities URING the election campaign, Labour claimed that a Tory victory would unleash “Thatcherism on steroids”. DNow, just weeks into the new Boris Johnson era, corporate bailouts are on the agenda. Hardly the rampant free-market dogma we were warned about. The troubled airline Flybe has received a £100m temporary tax break, plus the promise of a review into air passenger duty, which hits the domestic carrier hard. The airline’s owners were presented with the perfect political opportunity to make their case to government. Ever since his election victory, Johnson has talked about infrastructure spending, regional investment and the importance of connectivity. Flybe’s owner Connect Airways — the consortium US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Chinese vice premier Liu He yesterday signed a “phase one” trade deal in Washington that founded by Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Aviation and Cyrus Capital — puts in place a fragile peace in the long-running tariff war between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump and Liu put pen to must have viewed ministers as a soft touch. Would they really paper in the White House after months of negotiations. Trump heralded the deal as a “momentous step” forward for the pair. let 2,500 jobs disappear? Would they shrug at the hit to regional airports? Not likely. One wonders how much of a fight the government put up. It’s hard to picture the business secretary on the phone to Richard Branson, saying: “You bought the damn thing, you can prop it up.” It’s not like the billionaire couldn’t afford the bill. Besides, his own biggest shareholder is Delta — Rate cut on horizon as UK one of the most profitable carriers in the world. Given all this, one can hardly blame Willie Walsh for reacting with fury. Granted, his rivalry with Branson is intense and goes back decades, but he’s not wrong to point out that the inflation falls to fresh low government shouldn’t be in the business of bending the rules to save a failing company while viable competitors watch from the wings. ANNA MENIN was sitting just above $1.30 last night. the policy in a speech in Northern Ire- It isn’t only IAG and Easyjet complaining about the @annafmenin Bloomberg data on swaps trading land yesterday. government’s apparent distortion of the market. EU showed market odds of a quarter “This gives the Bank of England all competition officials will assess their complaint but elsewhere STERLING fell yesterday after data point rate reduction have hit 62 per the excuse it needs to cut later this showed UK inflation unexpectedly cent, compared to less than five per month,” said Markets.com chief ana- in Brussels the role of state aid and a commitment to a level slipped to a three-year low during De- cent last week. lyst Neil Wilson. playing-field are at the heart of the EU’s demands for a future cember, ramping up expectations British government bond prices also “Coming off the back of those UK-EU trade deal. The European Commission’s most recent that the Bank of England (BoE) will shot up following the reading, with weaker GDP and industrial produc- document outlining its red lines makes clear that it intends cut interest rates later this month. traders taking the drop as a sign the tion numbers, it does not look as The consumer price index (CPI) rose Bank would move to cut rates. though the economy was firing on all “to prevent unfair competitive advantage[s] that the UK could 1.3 per cent last month compared to a Outgoing BoE governor Mark Car- cylinders at the tail end of last year. enjoy through undercutting of levels of protection with respect year earlier — the weakest level since ney struck a dovish tone in a speech While there may well be a Boris to..