Royal Mail chairman Keith Williams: If we don’t deliver change, we face extinction | Business

An airline check-in assistant, a railway worker and a postie walk into a bar. This summer of discontent is no joke, but if you were to try adding some levity to the industrial disputes that have brought swathes of Britain grinding to a halt, the punchline could well feature Keith Williams standing behind the beer pumps, arms folded.

The Royal Mail chairman has made a career out of playing the landlord in heavily unionised industries. He spent 18 years at British Airways, the last five in the top job, when he ended a row with cabin crew over pay and conditions that had cost £150 million. He chaired a review of the train network for transport secretary Grant Shapps, recommending the creation of an all-powerful