Today the Grocery Code Adjudicator Bill was finally published, marking the beginning of the final chapter in this long and tortuous saga. Or perhaps it’s the end of the opening chapter.
The news prompted the usual round of quotes for and against the proposal, with suppliers (and the ACS) urging Whitehall to get on with it and the BRC calling for a cap on the estimated £800,000 cost to be levied from some of its largest members.
It could be 2014 before the post is filled and, as Daily Bread has previously noted, a long time after that before we know what sort of impact (if any) the office really has.
Still, at least our lawmakers have taken a break from fingering footballers and slagging off Irene Rosenfeld to actually, you know, make some laws.
Yesterday MPs were again having a pop at Kraft and its top brass – not so much for the company’s conduct over Cadbury but for failing to treat their Right Honourable friends with the required deference.
The authors of yesterday’s ‘Is Kraft Working For Cadbury?’ report chose to focus on the “deeply frustrating” failure of Rosenfeld to grovel before them and apologise for doing a deal she thought was right for her business.
On the other hand, they grudgingly admit “positive signs are emerging” in the wake of the controversial deal, citing Kraft’s decision to site its global R&D centre for chocolate at the Bournville plant.
Supporters of the Adjudicator Bill must hope its eventual passing into law doesn’t simply generate a whole lot more empty talk from bruised egos in high places.
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