Earlier
this year John Manzoni was appointed to lead the government's Major Projects
Authority (MPA), following his former BP boss Lord Browne into the Cabinet
Office.
He
is due to start his new role as civil service chief on 13 October, with a
salary of £190,000 a year.
The
government said: “John Manzoni was chosen following an external competition
which highlighted his proven track record in running large, complex, commercial
organisations and his reputation for creative strategic thinking and a focus on
results.”
Announcing
the appointment, David Cameron said Manzoni’s private sector experience put him
in the “perfect position to accelerate the pace” of civil service reform,
including further cost-cutting in Whitehall.
While
at BP, an internal company report published in 2007 found Manzoni should be
held accountable for the Texas City refinery blast that killed 15 people and
injured 170. He resigned from the company shortly after publication of the
report, which criticised Manzoni’s focus on results and the company’s related
cost-cutting measures.
He
then took up a role as chief executive at Talisman Energy, a company heavily
engaged in fracking in the US. In July 2012 Talisman agreed penalties of more
than $60,000 for alleged violations in reporting hazardous chemicals at 52
sites in Pennsylvania. Manzoni left his Talisman post shortly after.
Another
BP old boy hand-picked by the prime minister is at the heart of the UK’s safety
regulatory system. Former BP Alaska and North Sea chief John Morgan was
appointed by David Cameron last year to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
board. Like former BP colleagues Lord Brown and John Manzoni, Morgan has been
criticised in reports and the courts for corner-cutting on safety.
