A very valuable asset

Date: 02/07/1998

PETER Sutherland sometimes resembles a former school prefect who so loved his Alma Mater that he could not accept that his schooldays really were over.

It is almost a decade since the Irish lawyer left his post as the European Commissioner for competition. But in that time, 'Suds' has often been more visible in Brussels than many serving Commissioners and is now, yet again, being tipped as a strong contender to become the next president of the institution, just as he was back in 1994.

Yet after his much-publicised gain of anything up to 120 million ecu in share options following the flotation of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank in which he is one of 190 partners, some have begun to wonder whether he would really want the job if it came to the crunch.

In many ways, Sutherland seems to have been created specifically to provide material for that peculiar class of Dublin folk, the 'begrudgers'. Seen as a man who just went from strength to strength, he prolongs their debate about him by frequent public admissions that he regards himself as a “lucky” person.

Indeed, Sutherland does appear to have more than his fair share of good fortune. At college he linked up with a man called Garret FitzGerald in a 1960s grouping in the Fine Gael party known as the 'young tigers'. They sought, with mixed success, to transform the staid party of business into a more human Christian Democrat, or even Christian Social party.

In the Dublin courts, one of Sutherland's earliest cases saw him successfully defending an Irish army captain accused of importing arms for the IRA in Northern Ireland alongside one Charles J Haughey, a government minister who was later to become prime minister. The senior counsel in that case was the future Irish chief justice.

FitzGerald went on to become Taoiseach and twice nominated Sutherland as attorney-general. He was the youngest-ever holder of the post and became the youngest European Commissioner when FitzGerald appointed him to Brussels in 1984.

Again, luckily it might be said, Sutherland became director-general for the GATT just as most governments realised the time had come to bite the bullet and strike a deal in the Uruguay Round of world trade talks.

He is also fortunate indeed to be at Goldman Sachs just as it has gone public, a move which has left him rich beyond the dreams of the most starry-eyed lottery player.

Even Sutherland's misfortunes seem to have turned to gold on occasions. It is fair to assume that he might today have been less well-off, and less well-travelled, if the good voters of Dublin North West had not rejected him in 1973 in his only electoral outing for Fine Gael.

All this smacks of just a little too much hindsight and far too much begrudgery. It is true that successful people also need some good fortune. But as a good sports competitor himself, Suds well knows the real meaning of the trusted old maxim 'you make your own luck'.

Sutherland has made his rise-and-rise look easy. One of four children born to a successful Dublin insurance broker, he was never badly off. He was educated by the Jesuits at the newly opened Gonzaga College in Dublin and, as a burly front-row rugby player, he was soon organising the pack and leading literally and figuratively with his head.

Sutherland lost count of the number of times he broke his nose during his playing years, which saw him star in a successful University College Dublin side. There were trials for his provincial team, Leinster, but no first team places, much less the Ireland shirt he coveted.

Suds was always academically able and in the Dublin law courts he quickly acquired the right mix of skill, hard work, memory for detail, glad-handing bonhomie and low cunning required for success.

There was not too much jealousy when FitzGerald made him Ireland's attorney-general. There was, however, considerably more when he was appointed to Brussels.

FitzGerald had overlooked loyal party people in allocating the biggest plum in his gift. It is often forgotten that Sutherland was perceived as struggling in his earlier Brussels years and only came to prominence in a late burst, finally being seen as 'the man who beat the airlines'.

But his acclaimed performance and interest in another Commission term counted for nothing, with Fianna Fáil leader and Prime Minister Charles Haughey opting to send his favourite, Ray MacSharry, to Brussels instead.

To make matters worse, MacSharry was a great success and was in time hailed as 'the man who reformed the Common Agricultural Policy'. But there were consolations for Sutherland: lucrative directorships and a dream home in a leafy Dublin suburb where most of his neighbours are ambassadors.

But the former Commissioner did not plunge back into domestic politics again on his return home, causing resentment among many in Fine Gael which has continued to dog him ever since. Ironically, Sutherland now appears to have better contacts in the UK, mainland Europe and beyond, than in Ireland.

Significantly, his appointment to head GATT in June 1993 came on the recommendation of Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan and US Trade Secretary Mickey Kantor. Sutherland was reluctant and there was an unseemly squabble over his salary. But once installed, he soon began cajoling, wheedling, dealing and flattering in every corner of the globe.

One Australian journalist dubbed him the “friendly bully”. Others were less sure about the “friendly” part.

His main quarry was the media and he honed skills learned in Brussels, targeting individual journalists in the most flattering way by treating them as apparent equals. With a hand on the shoulder and a broad smile, he would begin imparting a confidence with the words: “Now, strictly deep background ...”

His staff presented him with nine bound volumes of press clippings when he left Geneva. But he had also learned how to square up to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, US President Bill Clinton and others, and get what he wanted out of them.

Sutherland could have stayed on at the new World Trade Organisation, but deemed it time to return to Dublin in early 1995 to take up international financial posts including that of head of European operations at Goldman Sachs.

The move was surely also motivated by the failure of his hopes of succeeding Jacques Delors as Commission president in Brussels in 1994. This set-back was in a sense a repeat of 1988, as another Fianna Fáil prime minister, Albert Reynolds, ignored suggestions that Sutherland might be a Commission presidency contender and sent his party nominee, Pádraig Flynn, to Brussels instead.

Goldman Sachs' 15&percent; stock flotation last month has made Sutherland the Irish media's “hundred-million-dollar man”.

Estimates of its potential spin-off vary, but Sutherland himself argues that much of this is fictive, denominated in shares he cannot, in practice, sell. Nevertheless, it is clear that, by any standards, he is extremely rich.

More importantly, money has long ceased to be the main motivator for Suds and these days serves more as a useful way of keeping score. It will also help him to maintain a more lofty stance as his subtle 'non-campaign' for the Commission presidency tiptoes along.

Yet there are other, practical impediments which could block his path to the Breydel. Fianna Fáil Prime Minister Bertie Ahern would have to take on board the idea of 'President Suds'. Weighing against that is a lack of precedent in Ireland for crossing party lines in making the Brussels appointment, and a vague antipathy towards Sutherland, still seen as a smart alec by many in Dublin's political classes.

In his favour is Ireland's need to send the best possible candidate to keep a foothold in a Commission which is likely to be slimmed down, a current dearth of talent in Dublin, and Irish parliamentary arithmetic which makes Ahern loath to risk a by-election by sending a sitting deputy. None of these issues have yet been broached by a minority Irish government busy coping with recurrent financial scandals.

At this juncture, therefore, Sutherland is very much an outside bet to succeed Jacques Santer. But many believe he would have a great deal to offer if he made it into the hot seat against the odds.

BIO