The revelation raises further questions about whether Shapps could have acted to prevent mass layoffs last week at the Dubai-owned ferry operator. On Monday, Shapps told the Commons that “the first time I heard about it was at 8.30am at [Wednesday] at night, not through the note, which I did not see, but through contacting my private office to indicate that P&O would make redundancies the next day. “ Shapps said he expected P&O Ferries to consult for more layoffs instead of inciting mass layoffs. Transportation minute minutes show Bin Sulayem welcoming Shapps to the DP World stand at the Dubai Expo on November 22nd. During the face-to-face meeting, the sultan warned Shapps: “As far as our shipping activities are concerned, there is a new low-cost competitor from Irish Ferries. This poses challenges for P&O’s operations. “Ships continued to operate during the peak of the pandemic to support the movement of people and goods.” Shapps thanked Bin Sulayem and told him: “I know about P&O issues. I acknowledge that you will need to make commercial decisions, but please let us know. “ Bin Sulayem added: “As we recover we can reinvest in the UK. “We generate significant revenue on the part of our business passengers (although it accounts for only about 30% of all work), because the margins are very narrow in terms of cargo.” Shapps responded: “I appreciate everything you did to support P&O.” The minutes came after revelations at Thursday’s special joint hearings in the Transport and Business Committees, where P&O Ferries CEO Peter Hebblethwaite admitted to deliberately violating labor law and fired nearly 800 members of the crew without consultation. He told lawmakers that DP World had informed the government of the planned changes to the business model. “There was a discussion about the challenges for the business, but no more than that,” Shipping Secretary Robert Kortz said at the hearing. Responding to the published minutes, the shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “Despite the clear warning signs, Grant Shapps did not seem to express a single word of concern for the workforce when he had the opportunity. “Throughout this scandal, every window of opportunity to save jobs has been lost and hundreds of British workers are paying the price.” The mass layoffs have been met with widespread outrage, though not by the government. Earlier Friday, Shapps called on Hebblethwaite to resign, saying: “I can not believe he can stay in this role, having admitted that he deliberately went out and used a small window – so he broke the law. “They flagged their ships through Cyprus [which meant they] they avoided telling anyone, otherwise they felt they did. And even though they know they have broken the law, what they have done is pay people in such a way that they try to buy their silence. It is unacceptable.” However, Labor said Saps had the power to exclude Hemblewate as director instead of simply calling for him to resign. Haigh added: “The government has done absolutely nothing to hold P&O Ferries accountable.” Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk On Friday, Hebblethwaite emailed P&O Ferries staff trying to clarify “issues” in his statement to lawmakers. Although he had told the committees that he would make the same business decision again, he told staff: “The first is that this kind of dismissal could not happen again.” He added: “The second point is that no criminal offense has been committed… There has been a failure to comply with the obligation to consult.” A DfT spokesman said: “DP World did not notify the Secretary of Transportation of any changes it would make to P&O Ferries and there was no indication of any unacceptable changes it made subsequently.”
