Liz Truss makes Boris Johnson possible

Good morning, dear readers,

in politics and business, the art of resignation is far less developed than the art of narrative. Events in the field of whitewashing have gained considerable momentum. In Britain, however, Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss had nothing positive to say 44 days after shocking financial markets with crude vulgar Thatcherism.

She abdicates with a short-time record, and everyone is happy. As early as next Friday – motto: “Everything but no new elections” – the successor, who could possibly even be her predecessor, party cracker Boris Johnson, should be known.

The change of tenants at 10 Downing Street, reminiscent of Italian conditions, encouraged the “Economist” to caricature their own country on the cover with “Welcome to Britaly”, with Mrs. Truss as a Roman centurion holding a large fork with spaghetti. Undoubtedly, the tabloid “Daily Star” shot the bird, which showed a head of lettuce in the live stream with the question of who would last longer: the vegetable or the politician. The salad won, shortly before it withered.

In Germany, the conservatives used to play “Angie” by the Rolling Stones for Angela Merkel at party conferences, in England they will soon be performing “Dizzy, Miss Lizzy” by the Beatles.

Even more surprising is the resignation of Tina Müller, the hands-on and optimistic CEO of the Douglas perfumery chain, who now sits on the supervisory board. Externally, the change to Sander van der Laan, which has matured at a discounter, is entirely voluntary, in the most beautiful harmony and with a Bert Kaempfert happy feeling sound.

But you can also hear something else from behind the scenes. Accordingly, the private equity player CVC, which overloaded Douglas with debt during the takeover, was quite nervous. Higher prices in purchasing, for parcel services and for energy could lead to a red in the balance sheet, the bright color of which could compete with the lipsticks on the Douglas shelves. Especially since further expenses for the successful digitization and for e-commerce as well as the difficult integration of the pharmacy business are pending.

In this situation and in view of the looming recession, CVC matador Alexander Dibelius relies on tough controller qualities. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos gave the motto for such strategies: “batten down the hatches”.

Speaking of resignations, let’s look at Adidas and its outgoing CEO Kasper Rorsted. He has completely used up the fame as “Manager of the Year 2019”, which was founded by “Manager Magazin” at the time. For the second time in three months, the Franconian sporting goods company, which used to be better off in the world (China), has had to issue a profit warning. Suddenly the surplus in 2022 should only be 500 million euros.

Previously, Rorsted revised the plan from 1.8 billion to 1.3 billion, which was still close to the 2021 profit of 1.49 billion. In Herzogenaurach, hopes for cost-effective fitness programs should now be greater than for sales of sporting goods related to the Winter World Cup in Qatar.

The affair surrounding Patricia Schlesinger, resigned director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), reappears in a time warp. This is unavoidable, because the law firm Lutz Abel, commissioned by the broadcaster to investigate, has submitted an interim report. The results do not correspond to the image of persecuted innocence that Schlesinger himself tried to convey in the “Zeit” interview.

• at Dinner bills at RBB costs in Schlesinger’s apartment, “there is a general lack of billability for the dinners in question, since the official occasion was not documented in accordance with the specifications of the DA (service instructions) for hospitality and cannot be checked on the basis of the receipts,” according to the lawyers.
• One Trip to London for the “Sheriff’s Ball” in September 2021, which RBB paid, was “not required for work”.
• The first two service contracts Schlesingers from 2016 and 2018 lacked an “effective resolution of the board of directors”. They are flawed. From a legal point of view, the third contract (2021) would also have had “both procedural and substantive deficiencies”.

The detective work shows that the head of the board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, a real estate giant in the Berlin district, ruled arbitrarily like the people of the “Neue Heimat” used to. You can look forward to the next reports on construction machinations.

Olaf Scholz’s “guideline competence” helps when Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner argue like tinkers. In relation to French President Emmanuel Macron, however, the Federal Chancellor only has other categories at his disposal – diplomacy, intuition, empathy, for example. Perhaps the social democrat has worn himself out too much in the “traffic light” antagonism, perhaps he also lacks the skill of his idol Helmut Schmidt (“Nothing without France!”). How else can one explain that Franco-German relations have hit rock bottom – of all things in the middle of Europe’s defensive struggle against a Putinism that is increasingly reminiscent of the Stalinism of the old days. A clear sign of the conflict is the cancellation of the joint cabinet meeting of German and French ministers next week in Fontainebleau Palace.

The different interests are also clearly evident at the current EU summit. On the one hand, there is Macron, the European dreamer, who warns that it will be “not good for Europe” if Germany “isolates”, i.e. implements its own gas price cap policy and distorts competition. On the other hand, there is Scholz, a rationalist with aversion to being co-opted, who defiantly insists that Germany “acted in very solidarity” and with the “defensive umbrella” of up to 200 billion euros “exactly the same” as France, Italy, Spain and many other countries do. Unlike Macron and most EU countries, however, he rejects a European gas price cap.

There is no lack of dissonance, for example when one accuses one another of cluster risks (EDF nuclear power, Russian gas). Or if you differ on defense: Germany buys US fighter jets and organizes the air defense system “European Sky Shield Initiative” without Paris. France, in turn, relies on the joint development of the FCAS combat aircraft system.

And finally, the complacency with which Scholz is planning his trip to China on November 4th – and how his chancellery advocates a participation by the Chinese state-owned company Cosco in the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA. Six German ministries, the BND and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are warning of the deal. “No critical infrastructure in Germany should come under the control of the Chinese government,” says Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). Significantly, almost everyone in Brussels at the EU summit wants to talk about how dependence on China can be reduced.

Manfred Weber (CSU), head of the conservative EPP group in the European Parliament, is close enough to judge the misalliance with France. Germany is perceived as a blockade country, he says: “A lot, a lot of porcelain has been smashed.”

And then there’s the pending change at this morning briefing after four and a half years, another resignation and a story from the Arabian Nights, typing at the desk. I summarized my thoughts on this and on the development of journalism in general in our newspaper, fully aware that “parting words have to be as short as a declaration of love” (Theodor Fontane).

I would like to thank everyone who endured it, perhaps even enjoyed it, and I am delighted by the warming feedback. It was great time with you. I will remain with the Handelsblatt as an author. So there is no talk of “ashes to ashes”, but only that the flame will be carried on – in future by main author Christian Rickens and deputy Teresa Stiens. And now: bow, curtain closed.

It greets you cordially

Her

Hans Jürgen Jakobs