Royal Mail chief Simon Thompson set to step down within weeks

Simon Thompson’s departure from Royal Mail may be the only way to draw a line under a bitter industrial dispute that has battered the business, observers have warned.

The beleaguered chief executive looks set to leave the 507-year-old delivery firm within days following a long-running spat with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and a humiliating appearance in front of MPs.

A City analyst said it would be ‘very difficult to move forward without a change in personnel’ after Thompson saw his reputation shredded by attacks from both union bosses and MPs.

Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), is expected to announce his departure before its annual results on May 18, ending a mostly unhappy tenure of just over two years.

IDS shares fell 0.5 per cent, or 1.1p, to 244.7p as speculation swirled about Thompson’s imminent exit. 

The dispute between Royal Mail and its workers dragged on for nearly a year before a deal – which included a 10 per cent raise for staff – was struck last month.

It followed a bruising period for the company that saw posties walk out on strike for 18 days last year. 

The action caused chaos in delivery offices across the UK. And Royal Mail warned it was losing over £1million per day and would need to call in administrators if the situation did not improve. 

While a semblance of calm has descended as workers decide whether to approve the peace agreement, the analyst predicted Thompson would need to leave before the wounds began to heal.

‘The deal is going to be difficult for Thompson to lead the organisation out of this,’ they said. ‘There’s too much bad blood between him and the staff.

‘A lot of the rank and file hate him. And it’s going to be very difficult for him to be an effective leader of those people. After the war it’s very difficult to forgive and forget.’

Andy McDonald, a member of the Commons business select committee, said Thompson’s handling of the company has been ‘rocky to say the least’ and hoped his departure would mark ‘a new approach’ for the firm.

McDonald and other members of the committee accused Thompson earlier this year of ‘either an unacceptable level of incompetence or an unacceptable level of cluelessness’ in his running of the business.