Security firm G4S CEO Nick Buckles has "survived calls for him to resign following the company's failure to provide enough guards to secure" the London Games, according to Rupert Neate of the London GUARDIAN. G4S said on Friday that it would keep Buckles in the top job despite his acknowledgement to MPs that the staffing crisis had been a "humiliating shambles." While Buckles will be retained in his £830,000-a-year job ($1.3M), two of his lieutenants "have walked the plank." G4S COO David Taylor-Smith and Global Events Division Managing Dir Ian Horseman Sewell resigned over the "major failings" that forced the government to call in the army to provide security staff for the Games. Some analysts "were not satisfied with the departure of the two lower-ranking execs." Investment firm Seymour Pierce Analyst Kevin Lapwood said, "Are we surprised that Buckles hasn't gone? Frankly, yes. Does it draw a line under the whole affair? I don't think it does." Home Affairs Select Committee Chair Keith Vaz, said Taylor-Smith and Horseman Sewell had paid the "ultimate price" by resigning but said it was "not the end of the matter." He said on his Twitter account, "It's not closure. They must waive their fee and pay compensation" (GUARDIAN, 9/28). In London, Plimmer & Warrell & Wembridge reported that G4S appointed Head of Care and Justice Services Richard Morris as the company's U.K. CEO, a move that will "reassure the government over its ability to handle future contracts." Group Managing Dir Kim Challis has "become responsible for all government business." The company is already searching for two additional non-execs and a full-time COO, who "will be recruited from outside the organisation" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 9/28).
