BP chief executive Tony Hayward has seriously misjudged his crisis management in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The stiff upper lip approach to quietly getting the job done in an ordered and measured way does not wash with a  US audience who clearly expect an emotional, spirited approach to the crisis or hysterical as it may be viewed on this side of the Atlantic.

He has quietly had to become a more hands-on involved leader in the face of withering criticism from the very top, with President Obama threatening to ‘kick his ass’. A less than helpful attitude which did nothing to solve the problem but succeeded in wiping one third off the value of BP shares, a move that hits the pockets of millions of Obama voters – 40% BP shares are American owned.

Not to mention raising the hackles of that great defender of Britishness Lord Tebbit who described the President’s attitude as ‘despicable’

‘The whole might of American wealth and technology is displayed as utterly unable to deal with this disastrous spill- so what is more natural than a crude xenophobic and bigoted display from a petulant President.” Telling it like it is and leaving the cracks in the special relationship rapidly turning into chasms.
 
Although BP changed its name from British Petroleum more than 15 years ago the President continues to use the name as if reinforcing this is a foreigners problem inflicted on the good people of the US of A and nothing to do with him.

While BP have admitted full responsibility for the spill and offered to pay for the clean up this doesn’t seem to be enough for Barack.

He seems hell bent on destroying what is one the UK’s largest companies while quietly sweeping under the carpet the fact that American companies had more than a passing role to play in this whole sorry affair. Chasm

The rig is owned and operated by Transocean Ltd, a US firm, and was subcontracted to Halliburton another US firm. BP had only a sixty five percent share in the operation. The failed blow out preventer which was the cause of the spill was made by Cameron, another US firm.

Add to this the extremely lax health and safety checks by the US authorities and this disaster looks more and more of an Anglo American responsibility and the BP PR machine should be striving far more to reflect this.