Since 2020 as many people have run BP as have run Britain. Sir Keir Starmer, the fourth prime minister in as many years, promised to end the pantomime(闹剧；滑稽戏) in Westminster. Last year Albert Manifold was appointed as chairman of BP to do the same thing in nearby St James’s Square. Sir Keir is still hanging on. Mr Manifold is finished. On May 26th, after less than eight months in post, Mr Manifold was sacked in a unanimous(全体一致的) vote by the board, which includes Meg O’Neill, the oil company’s new chief executive.
自2020年以来，掌管BP的人数与掌管英国的人数一样多。基尔·斯塔默爵士是四年内的第四位首相，他承诺结束威斯敏斯特的闹剧。去年，阿尔伯特·曼尼福尔德被任命为BP董事长，意在邻近的圣詹姆斯广场做同样的事。基尔爵士仍在坚守。曼尼福尔德先生完了。5月26日，上任不到八个月，曼尼福尔德在董事会一致投票中被解雇，董事会成员包括该公司新任首席执行官梅格·奥尼尔。
Mr Manifold inherited a neglected giant. The net-zero strategy of his predecessor Helge Lund, a Norwegian, had made BP uninvestable. It is fitting, then, that Mr Manifold’s dismissal should have the air of a Eurocratic(欧洲官僚的) initiative. The timing of the directive announcing his departure could not have been better chosen to agitate markets. It travelled down the wires(通过电传/电报发送) just as traders in New York returned to their desks after a bank-holiday weekend and were busy digesting news about a possible end to America’s war in Iran. Shares in BP fell by nearly 10%.
曼尼福尔德接手的是一个被忽视的巨人。其前任、挪威人赫格·隆德的净零战略让BP失去了投资价值。因此，曼尼福尔德被解雇带有欧洲官僚倡议的气息，倒也恰如其分。宣布他离职的声明发布时间特意选在了最能搅动市场的时刻——就在纽约交易员们度过银行假日周末回到办公桌前，忙着消化美国可能结束伊朗战争这一消息之际，声明通过电传播了出去。BP股价下跌了近10%。
But the real sin was the statement’s style. It was written in the worst literary tradition of arrogant, managerial minimalism(管理层的极简主义). Rather than elaborate on the reasons why BP must now search for another chairman, the board offered just a few lines of cryptic lanyard-speak(挂绳用语；空话). There are “serious concerns” about “important governance standards, oversight and conduct”, the statement said. Trust us, he’s a wrong’un, pleaded a board which shareholders have little reason to trust. Like Sir Keir, BP’s board appeals confidently to an authority that has been spent twice over.
但真正的过错是声明的措辞。它秉承了傲慢的管理层极简主义最糟糕的文学传统。董事会没有详细说明BP为何必须另寻董事长，只提供了几句模糊不清的“挂绳用语”。声明称，对“重要的治理标准、监督和操守”存在“严重关切”。“相信我们，他这个人有问题”，一个股东们没有什么理由信任的董事会如此恳求。就像基尔爵士一样，BP董事会自信地诉诸于一种已经耗尽了两次的权威。
Manifold destiny
曼尼福尔德宿命