Paul Flowers, who shuffled into court on the back of a rolling frame, sporting a snow-white beard and wearing a red scarf, at times bore more than a passing resemblance to Richard Attenborough as Kriss Kringle. Miracle on 34th Street. But the life of the former chairman of the Co-op Bank has been a lesson that appearances can be deceiving.
Flowers, once a Methodist minister, was to be sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to defrauding a female friend and spending the money on wine, theater tickets and luxury holidays. Earlier this year, Flowers admitted 18 counts of abusing his position as Margaret Jarvis’ power of attorney and in executing her will after her death.
Manchester Crown Court heard the fraud totaled more than £180,000 but Flowers entered a plea in which he admitted committing fraudulent activity for just under £100,000. This situation was also accepted by prosecutors and the crimes were described as “grave breach of trust”. The defendant’s lawyer claimed that his client was in poor health before the sentence was given. The case was postponed last year because Flowers suffered a stroke.
The suspension may represent a new low for Flowers, but the downward spiral began at least 10 years ago and likely much longer than that. There could be several more sudden falls from grace in British public life.
Born and raised in Portsmouth, Flowers worked as a teller at NatWest bank for four years before training for the ministry. He studied theology at the University of Bristol in the 1970s. She later claimed that she was raped by a fellow student during this time, resulting in repression of the trauma and lifelong difficulties in maintaining romantic relationships.
By all accounts he was a good and well-liked Methodist minister for over 40 years and once presided over one of Bradford’s fastest growing churches. He was known for being friendly and welcoming to refugees, and as an openly gay man he overcame serious homophobia to earn the respect of many.
Interested in politics from a young age, he served as a Labor councilor in both Rochdale and Bradford. In 1985 he was selected by the Labor Party as its MP candidate for Meriden, Warwickshire, but withdrew after concerns were raised about his past.
At the time, Flowers blamed a “whisper campaign” about his sexuality, which he never tried to hide. He was also convicted of gross indecency in 1981, which he described as “the kind of crime to which homosexuals can be subjected in a repressive and intolerant society”.
In 1990, Flowers was convicted of drunk driving. The incident led to a disciplinary hearing at the church, but he was allowed to continue in ministry. In 2004, he resigned from Lifeline, a Manchester-based drugs charity which he chaired for 16 years, after being accused (but later cleared) of making false expenses claims.
He was said to have been angered by his failure to become leader of the Labor group on Bradford council in 2005. He later channeled his political ambitions into the Cooperative movement, which he joined in his youth. In 2008, he was appointed as a member of the board of directors of the Cooperative group and in 2010 as president of the Cooperative Bank.
The high street lender had just merged with Britannia Building Society and was trying to buy hundreds of branches of Lloyds Bank. It was also struggling with its IT system. That same year, Flowers was appointed to Labour’s finance and industry advisory board by then leader Ed Miliband.
Things started to go wrong for the Co-operative Bank when regulators tightened capital adequacy rules in the wake of the financial crisis. Flowers approved the recapitalization plan but this was rejected by Co-op Group’s incoming chief executive Euan Sutherland.
Flowers was forced to resign after the discovery of a black hole in the bank’s finances, which led to a £1.5bn emergency bailout by two US hedge funds in June 2013. It was later revealed that Flowers had also left the group’s board amid allegations of irregularities regarding his expenses. .
The then Conservative government pursued the scandal because of Flowers’ close ties to some figures in the Labor Party and the importance of the Co-operative movement in shaping Labour’s approach to business and the economy. At the disastrous meeting of the Treasury Select Committee following the bank rescue, Flowers repeatedly struggled to grasp key figures. At one point he told MPs the bank had assets worth £3bn; the real figure was closer to £47 billion.
The incident raised serious questions about how someone with so little financial experience could be appointed to such a senior role at a bank. The decision to confirm the financial watchdog’s appointment was also taken as a prime example of the type of light-touch, hands-off regulation that characterized the years leading up to the financial crisis.
Just days after being questioned by MPs, Flowers was filmed counting out £300 in cash for cocaine and crystal meth; which led newspapers to dub him the “Crystal Methodist”. Financial Times He described him as “a latter-day Falstaff who prefers young men to prostitutes and crystal meth to wine.”
The following year, in May 2014, Flowers was fined £525 after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine at Leeds Magistrates’ Court. Flowers addressed the stress of her Co-op role and the palliative impact of caring for her terminally ill mother. Shortly afterwards, he was once again caught on video snorting cocaine and entertaining rent boys at this house in Salford, Greater Manchester. Later that year he was ordained as a Methodist minister and accepted into the BBC. news night Interview: “I sinned.”
It was at this point that Bradford City Council revealed in 2011 that “inappropriate but not illegal adult content was found on the council computer handed over for service by Councilor Flowers”. When Flowers came across the contents of his hard drive, he immediately resigned. .
In March 2016, Sunday Mirror He posted photos of another of Flowers’ male prostitutes, half-naked, asleep, with chips balanced on her nipples. After this incident, Flowers said, Guard to tell his side of the story. In it, he attempted to establish his faith and use of companions by pointing out that Jesus befriended Mary Magdalene and other female prostitutes.
He also claimed that he often “mentored” the rental boys he hired. In the same interview, Flowers admitted to using drugs “very occasionally” and having sex with male prostitutes at the Renaissance hotel in Manchester during his time as chairman of Manchester-headquartered Co-op Bank.
In March 2018, nearly five years after the bank was rescued, Flowers was banned from the financial services industry by the Financial Conduct Authority for using his work email and work mobile phone to send sexually explicit messages and discuss illegal drugs. to call premium rate chat lines.
Announcing the ban, Mark Steward, the financial watchdog’s head of enforcement and market surveillance, said: “The chairmanship role carries a unique level of trust and influence. The president is crucial in setting expectations for a company’s culture, values, and behaviors. “Mr. Flowers has failed in his duty to lead by example and meet the high standards of honesty and integrity required by the role.”
As formal understatement examples go, it’s going to take some beating.