I know I am supposed to be a Thatcherite but I feel somewhat of a Bennite this morning after hearing that Cadbury's have succumbed to the Kraft takeover.
Cadbury's was not just a company but a truly unique British Institution. At its hey day, Cadbury's was at the forefront of great philanthropy and social responsibility - providing a much better version than its modern PC corporate responsibility variety as practiced by the Body Shop et al (who can forget the sale of Body Shop to corporate L'Oreal?).
Cadbury's Bourneville Village was a genuine triumph of social responsibility. Its aim was to provide a clean environment and decent homes for workers - many of whom never had anything to do with Cadbury's. Even today the village has homes for 25,000 residents.
What Cadbury's did for industrial workers in the nineteenth and twentieth Century for industrial workers was revolutionary in its own way and a model of genuine philanthropy. It is not hard to see why this family and community focused company won the affections of the British people, even if it did make mistakes along the way.
Now, as it is about to be swallowed up by giant corporate Kraft, and, as we lose yet another historic British business, we see a powerful example of the casualties of the free market.
