Double up at Lloyd's
I WAS delighted to see City and Suburban selections — Rona Lady Delves Broughton and Peter Nutting — finishing first and second in the Lloyd's of London Stakes. The Council of Lloyd's has acquired two radicals. Mr Nutting made his name by making himself a nuisance on behalf of Lloyd's luckless members on the Outh- waite syndicate, and can now be a nuisance at the highest level — as he told the voters, 'I am unlikely to become an insider in a cosy club.' Lady Delves Broughton casts doubt on such sacred articles of Lloyd's faith as the three-year accounting system and unlimited personal liability. A friend in authority at Lloyd's writes to me, seeking to cast those doubts back — why, he asks, should some members of Lloyd's be able to limit their personal risks and pass their excessive bills to others? In practice, they have learned to do this ever since the Lloyd's scandals taught them the way to their lawyers. In principle, there is no reason why an individual insurer should not contract, if he chooses, to limit his risk and his reward. This week, three Lloyd's syndicates have run into losses of £250 million. The moral for their members is the moral which I drew for all Lloyd's mem- bers before this month's elections — if they will not stand up for themselves, no one else will do it for them.
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