London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

The UK revolving door corruption standard as usual: British Gas owner appoints Former energy secretary  as a director

The UK revolving door corruption standard as usual: British Gas owner appoints Former energy secretary as a director

Former Conservative energy secretary Amber Rudd joins Centrica board as non-executive director
British Gas owner Centrica has appointed the former government minister Amber Rudd as a non-executive director.

The former home secretary also previously served as secretary of state for energy and climate change from 2015 to 2016 in David Cameron’s government during her decade as a Conservative MP.

Her recruitment comes amidan escalating energy crisis, with consumers bracing for household bills to soar in the spring, and as tensions grow between government and suppliers over how to lessen the impact of rising wholesale prices on households.

Scott Wheway, Centrica’s chairman, praised Rudd’s “wide range of expertise” and said she would bring a “wealth of real-world experience in energy” which would be “invaluable” to the company. She was energy secretary at the time of the Paris climate change agreement made at the Cop21 summit in 2015.

Centrica released news of Rudd’s appointment just hours after the company’s chief executive, Chris O’Shea, said it was not interested in receiving a government bailout to help it reduce the impact of soaring energy bills on consumers.

“There are reports that some energy companies want a £20bn handout to keep household bills down,” O’Shea wrote in an opinion piece published in the Sun newspaper. “Not British Gas. We haven’t asked for a bailout, we don’t want a bailout, and we oppose any bailouts.”

Consumers are bracing for a spike in what they pay for household energy in April, when the regulator reviews its energy price cap, a move that many expect will mean average annual bills shoot up by as much as £700.

This increase would take the annual cost of electricity and gas for households on a supplier’s default tariff to £2,000, compared with £1,300 at present.

After 26 UK energy firms collapsed in 2021, O’Shea insisted that “energy suppliers have to pass on higher wholesale costs to survive”. But he suggested the government could help consumers through other means, such as cutting VAT on energy bills, or stripping environmental levies from bills.

He calculated that the VAT cut would shave £100 off the average annual bill, although such a move has been dismissed by Boris Johnson.

O’Shea also suggested that the government should fund environmental and social levies through general taxation instead of household bills, which he estimated would cut the average annual total by £170.

Rudd will join Centrica’s board on 10 January, and will also become a member of the company’s safety, environment and sustainability committee, as well as its remuneration committee.

This is not Rudd’s first private sector role. She joined the ranks of former ministers stepping into often lucrative private-sector jobs after government when she was hired as a senior adviser to Cambridge-based cybersecurity firm Darktrace in May 2020, just as it prepared for its stock exchange flotation.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×