Co-op not paying a dividend this year.

AnnaEsse wrote:I got a mailing from the Co-op today. All members will get 10% off shopping between now and end of December. Every time we shop with our membership cards, we'll get a voucher for 10% off next time. Vouchers can be saved and used all at once up to December 24th.

I never got one AnnaEsse, but the news is that Flowers has been charged so expect a long Trial and a few heads to roll . To be honest I can't understand why lifeline didn't do something when they found out he was fiddling, he would never have been appointed Chairman of the Co-op . Milliband has admitted Labour accepted a £50,000 donation to the Party from him.

I got one. I hope my husband does not put the discounts in his shirt pocket and put them in the wash like he did with the last dividend vouchers!

I got one of those too. Bag of paper based cat litter in our local Co-Op = £2.49. Equivalent bag several doors down at Poundworld = £1.00. No amount of dividend or vouchers are going to breach that gap. Co-op are toast.

Inquiry into Paul Flowers must not be political 'Trojan horse', Labour warns

Britain’s most senior civil servant has been dragged in to the scandal over Paul Flowers after he was warned that a Government inquiry into the Co-op bank is being used as a “Trojan horse” for a party political attack on Labour.





The former chairman of Britain's Co-operative Bank, Paul Flowers: Labour's 'cover-up' over Co-op bank chief

The former chairman of Britain's Co-operative Bank, Paul Flowers Photo: REUTERS







By Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent

10:00PM GMT 22 Nov 2013







George Osborne, the Chancellor, confirmed on Friday that a full independent inquiry will be held in to the bank following the downfall of Mr Flowers, the Methodist minister arrested as part of a drugs investigation.


Labour has written to Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, demanding that the inquiry is not subject to “party political point-scoring”.


It is the latest attempt by Ed Miliband’s party to fight back after days of disclosures about Labour’s links to Mr Flowers.


Mr Flowers was this week accused of taking cocaine and using rent boys while running the Co-op bank.


The Daily Telegraph can also disclose that Mr Flowers boasted about attending all-night parties during a Co-operative conference that were “more than his body could survive” - just months before leading the bank to the brink of collapse.


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Mr Flowers, who ran the bank for three years, told delegates at a Co-operative festival in Manchester last year that he had been “partying into the wee small hours”.

His remarks at a public event attended by hundreds of people will fuel concerns about why nobody reported his behaviour to the authorities.

Speaking at Co-operatives United World Festival and ICA Expo on November 2, 2012 in Manchester, Mr Flowers said: “Can I just say something about this international co-operative year that we have been marking and celebrating over the last few days, some indeed partying into the wee small hours for more nights than we would care to remember - or our bodies can actually also survive.”

Mr Flowers apologised after he was captured on film buying hard drugs including crack cocaine and crystal meth.

It has also emerged that Mr Flowers was caught drink-driving in Manchester in 1990 after celebrating his 40th birthday.

While serving as the chairman of the Co-op bank, Mr Flowers was also communicating with rent boys using his work email address, it has been claimed.

David Cameron this week accused the Labour leadership of knowing about Mr Flowers’ past but failing to tell the authorities.

It prompted him to launch an independent inquiry into how a figure with such a controversial past came to lead a major British financial institution.

The inquiry could take months or even years to report because it will only start when potential enforcement investigations conducted by the financial regulators are completed.

Michael Dugher, the shadow cabinet office minister, on Friday wrote to Sir Jeremy calling for public assurances that Mr Osborne’s inquiry will be “genuinely independent”.

However, he welcomed an investigation into how Mr Flowers was appointed to such a senior position at the bank.

“There is growing concern over the politicisation by senior Government Ministers of recent revelations regarding the Co-operative Bank,” Mr Dugher wrote. “It cannot be acceptable that issues which could affect the deposits of thousands of families and businesses up and down the country are subject to party political point-scoring and smear.”

He added: “We believe, however, that as Cabinet Secretary it is your responsibility to ensure that any such inquiry must be genuinely independent and robust. It must not become some sort of Trojan horse for a party political attack. We would therefore be grateful if you could provide a public and written assurance that this will be the case.”

David Davis, the Tory MP who challenged Mr Cameron for the party leadership in 2005, said on Friday that Mr Osborne and the Treasury had "serious questions to answer" about the oversight of the Co-op Bank.

“There are really serious questions to answer about what they were all doing,” Mr Davis said.

Issues over the bank's operations were raised by a rival at the time of a subsequently-aborted takeover bid of Lloyds Bank branches.

“These problems were apparent to a rival and would have been - with a bit of work - to anyone else,” Mr Davis added.

It claimed on Friday that Lord King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, had warned that there was a “political desire” for the Co-op to buy 630 Lloyds branches.

The claims will raise further questions about Mr Osborne’s involvement in the deal.

Mr Flowers was questioned throughout Friday by police officers.

Andy Hollas, his defence solicitor, said: “On the basis of the account Mr Flowers has given, police will be making further inquiries.”

He added that it is likely that Mr Flowers will be re-interviewed at a later date.

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A Reporter said Bernard King who retired recently from the Bank of England has said it was George Osborne who suggested The Co-op buy Lloyds branches ...he is the one who wants the enquiry !!! it's one scandal after another in this Parliament.