the times | Saturday November 14 2020 1GM 37
Leading articles
have always used the closest partnership in their
lives as a political sounding board, for good or ill.
Philip May, a banker, was silently supportive in
public but said to dispense advice about finance to
his wife after the EU referendum. He was her sole
counsel on the 2017 Welsh walking holiday during
which she made her disastrous decision to call a
general election. Margaret Thatcher is said to
have discovered that Rolls-Royce had run into
trouble only when she asked Denis, her business-
man husband, to look over the figures. “I arrived
home late one night to find him surrounded by six
years’ accounts,” she recalled.
Samantha Cameron was famously ambivalent
about joining the Westminster village but her
influence over her husband’s politics was always
underestimated. David Cameron himself admitted
that she “tore apart” his first party conference
speech on the NHS. Without her socially liberal
instincts it is unlikely he would have taken a stand
on gay marriage. Tony Blair admitted that his wife,
Cherie Booth, who joined the Labour Party at the
age of 15, was instrumental in halting his early
flirtation with Trotskyism and bringing him into the
“mainstream”. In contrast, the bachelor Ted Heath
was judged to have suffered from the absence of
a trusted person with whom to share his troubles.In the US, the political spouse benefits from
official status, which provides them with a budget
and staff. But this cannot shield them from
criticism. Hillary Clinton’s refusal to fade into the
East Wing, and her role overseeing her husband’s
attempted health reforms, attracted ire. A better
reception may be hoped for Doug Emhoff,
husband of the new vice-president, Kamala Harris.
He will leave his legal firm to pursue the cause
of equal access to legal representation as the
country’s first ever Second Gentleman.
Mr Johnson has been said to lean on his partners
because of a lack of close friends. His ex-wife,
Marina Wheeler, a barrister, helped to convince
him to back Leave after penning a harsh critique of
the legal implications of the Cameron EU reform
deal. Since Mr Johnson entered Downing Street,
Ms Symonds has emerged as a powerful voice on
the environment, one issue on which the prime
minister seeks to revive Britain’s relations with the
US and win over the Brexit-sceptical Joe Biden. As
long as Ms Symonds is in Downing Street, she will
have Mr Johnson’s ear. The departure of Messrs
Cain and Cummings offers what has so far been
a chaotic premiership the chance to reset and
impose order. But whoever replaces them would
be wise not to make an enemy of Ms Symonds.refuse to disclose their so-called uphold rates for
fraud cases. Nor will the Payment Systems Regu-
lator, to which the banks are obliged to report their
uphold rates, provide details, despite a freedom of
information request submitted by The Times.
What we do know is that rates range from 99 per
cent to 1 per cent. The only bank that does disclose
its rate is TSB, which is not party to the industry
deal but reimburses 99 per cent of victims.
Of course, the code requires only that banks re-
imburse innocent victims. There is a good case
that banks should not pay out when customers
failed to take sensible precautions as this exposes
the industry to moral hazard. Even so, it seems
that some banks may be going to unreasonable
lengths to wriggle out of their obligation. We
report today on customers who say they have been
subjected to fierce interrogations that have made
them feel as if they were the guilty party. One
woman likened her treatment to that of a rape
victim who is blamed for her own assault because
she wore too short a skirt. That is clearly troubling.
It is also self-defeating. The reality is that the
explosion in fraud has been so great that it risksundermining public confidence in the banking
system. Who wants to leave their money in a
bank that seemingly won’t protect its customers?
What’s more, it is unreasonable to expect bank
customers to keep abreast of the increasing
sophistication of the scammers and the speed with
which their schemes evolve. Nor can the police
cope with the fast-growing volume of cases. Only
by collectively agreeing to assume responsibility
for fraud losses can the industry work to tackle the
problem by identifying scams, building safeguards,
tracking stolen money and helping the police to
bring criminals to justice.
If the banks won’t honour their commitments
then regulators should step in. At the least, all
banks should be required to publicly disclose their
uphold rates so that customers can see how their
lender performs. To avoid free-riders, repayment
may need to be made compulsory. That would
certainly give the banks a strong incentive to find
longer-term solutions, including the creation of
an industry fund to repay victims and improve
fraud detection. That way they might yet help to
address one unfortunate source of anxiety.young woman who, in the spirit of her project,
prefers to remain nameless. Like all the best ideas,
this one is devastatingly simple: do something
kind for a stranger, just because you can.
The gifts need not be flowers. With the season of
goodwill fast approaching, decorations or cards or
Christmas wreaths may prove popular. As might
bunches of mistletoe. And, while randomly kissing
or embracing strangers is not recommended (for
all sorts of obvious reasons), generosity can
involve a suitably socially distanced action rather
than a tangible present. We suggest a smile,
greeting, compliment, or perhaps making thesmall sacrifice of inviting a stranger to go ahead of
you in a queue.
Being a generally polite bunch, Brits perform
many such kindnesses already. Yet exhibiting
even more good cheer and good manners than
usual in the coming weeks of winter will not do any
harm. Indeed, judging by the delighted folk who
received flowers in Cirencester, kindness inflation
will do a lot of good. Each November it has
become traditional to complain that the run-up to
Christmas starts earlier and earlier. In this most
dismal of years, however, the outbreak of festive
geniality feels anything but premature.Power Struggle
Like many political spouses before her, Boris Johnson’s fiancée,
Carrie Symonds, has emerged as key player in Downing Street
The phrase “political spouse” typically evokes
images ranging from the meek, neatly coiffed wife
dutifully standing by her husband to the scheming
Lady Macbeth plotting her own rise to power
through pillow talk and manipulation. Such stereo-
types ignore the reality that today politicians’
spouses include husbands and, in the case of
Carrie Symonds, an environmental campaigner
with her own career in politics who happens not to
be married to her partner and father of their child,
the prime minister.
Ms Symonds has found herself at the centre
of the soap-operatic political storm engulfing
Downing Street. She appears to have played an
instrumental role in demanding the immediate
departure from No 10 of Dominic Cummings, Mr
Johnson’s chief adviser, yesterday. His exit became
inevitable after she had vetoed the appointment of
Lee Cain, head of communications and a long-
time acolyte of Mr Cummings, as chief of staff to
the prime minister. Ms Symonds is alleged to have
plotted the Vote Leave pair’s downfall in the flat
above No 11 with Allegra Stratton, the prime
minister’s new spokeswoman, who will host a daily
televised press conference.
Although it is rare for politicians to appoint
their spouses as professional advisers, leadersHeld to Account
Banks are wriggling out of their commitments to compensate victims of fraud
As if there hasn’t been enough misery this year, the
eight months since the start of lockdown have led
to an explosion of fraud. The number of hacking
and extortion offences, for example, rose from
132 cases in March to 1,058 the following month.
There was a 38 per cent rise in reports of harmful
computer viruses, malware and spyware. Action
Fraud, the national reporting centre, received
17,000 reports of investment scams in the year to
September, up 28 per cent on last year, leading to
losses of £657.4 million. The Financial Conduct
Authority has issued 1,031 scam warnings this year,
against 573 in the whole of 2019. Waiting times to
speak to Action Fraud’s hotline have risen fifteen-
fold, from just over a minute in April to more than
15 minutes last month.
What adds to the misery is that so few victims
are being reimbursed by their banks. Under a deal
struck last year by the Lending Standards Board,
banks agreed that they would repay 100 per cent
of any funds lost by innocent victims of fraud. Yet,
as we report today, the numbers actually being
compensated are falling far short of that. How far
short is impossible to say as almost all the banksPay it Forward
Random acts of kindness are a wonderful way to lift everyone’s spirits
The beauty of an anonymous gift to a stranger is
that it not only brightens the recipient’s day and
makes the giver feel good too, it also triggers a
warm glow in those who hear about the act of
generosity secondhand. Faith in human nature is
restored. Only the most cynical will read our story
from the Cotswolds today and not feel moved by
the tale of flowers left on benches for lucky
passers-by to collect, a no-strings gesture aimed
purely at increasing the sum of all happiness, one
bouquet at a time.
So-called random acts of kindness, most recently
seen in Cirencester, were initiated in London by aDaily Universal Register
UK: Greece is removed from Britain’s safe
travel list; England and Scotland rugby
teams begin Autumn Nations Cup; Tate
Britain unveils its winter commission.
The Prince of Wales,
pictured, 72; Tim Bowler,
children’s author, River
Boy (1997), 67; Dame
Nicola Brewer,
university administrator
and diplomat, 63; Sophie
Christiansen, equestrian,
eight-time Paralympic gold medallist, 33;
Anne Cooke, emeritus professor of
immunobiology, University of Cambridge,
75; Paul Dacre, chairman and editor-in-chief
of Associated Newspapers, editor of the
Daily Mail (1992-2018), 72; Lord (Michael)
Dobbs, novelist, House of Cards (1989), and
politician, deputy chairman, Conservative
Party (1994-95), 72; Dame Louise Ellman,
independent/Labour MP for Liverpool
Riverside (1997-2019), 75; David Elstein,
chairman, openDemocracy, chief executive,
Channel 5 (1996-2000), 76; Stefano
Gabbana, fashion designer, co-founder
(1985), Dolce & Gabbana, 58; Greg Hands,
Conservative MP, trade policy minister, 55;
Charles Hazlewood, conductor, 54; David
Howell, chess grandmaster, 30; Edward
Foljambe, Earl of Liverpool, chairman,
Rutland Group, 76; Paul McGann, actor,
Doctor Who (1996), 61; PJ O’Rourke, writer,
Holidays in Hell (1988), 73; Sarah Radclyffe,
film producer, My Beautiful Laundrette
(1985), 70; Pam Relph, rower, two-time
Paralympic gold medallist, 31; Condoleezza
Rice, US secretary of state (2005-09), 66.
In 1940 Coventry Cathedral was left in ruins
by incendiary bombs in an 11-hour raid by
the Luftwaffe that claimed 568 lives. Two
thirds of the city’s buildings were damaged.
Dawn Airey, pictured,
chairwoman, National
Youth Theatre, chief
executive, Getty Images
(2015-18), 60; Daniel
Barenboim, pianist and
conductor, 78; Prof
Georgina Born,
musician and anthropologist, 65; Andrew
Castle, TV and radio presenter and former
tennis player, 57; Roberto Cavalli, fashion
designer, 80; Jimmy Choo, fashion designer,
72; Petula Clark, singer, Downtown (1964),
88; Peter Dickinson, composer, emeritus
professor of Keele and London universities,
86; Derrick Evans, fitness instructor, “Mr
Motivator”, 68; Tibor Fischer, author, Under
the Frog (1992), 61; Sir Ashley Fox, leader of
Conservatives in the European parliament
(2014-19), 51; Prof Vernon Gibson, chief
scientific adviser, Ministry of Defence (2012-
16), 62; Lilian Hochhauser, impresario, 94;
Dom Joly, comedian, 53; Anni-Frid
Lyngstad, singer, Abba, Waterloo (1974), 75;
Paul Manduca, chairman, Prudential, 69;
Jonny Lee Miller, actor, Trainspotting (1996);
48; François Ozon, film director, 8 Women
(2002), 53; Giles Paxman, diplomat, UK
ambassador to Spain (2009-13), 69; Tim
Pears, writer, The Redeemed (2019), 64; Peter
Phillips, son of the Princess Royal and Capt
Mark Phillips, 43; Alice Rawsthorn, design
critic, director, Design Museum, London
(2001-06), 62; Tommy Stack, jockey,
National Hunt champion jockey (1974-75,
1976-77), and trainer, 75; Sam Waterston,
actor, The Killing Fields (1984), 80.
“No one can make you feel inferior without
your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat
and reformer, Catholic Digest (August 1960)
Birthdays today
Birthdays tomorrow
On this day
The last word