Fred the Shred flew into rage over ‘rogue biscuits’

Sir Fred Goodwin was a ‘dreadful’ and menacing boss who flew into rages if the wrong biscuit was served in the boardroom, reveals a book chronicling his downfall.

The book, written by Tory MPs Matthew Hancock and Nadhim Zahawi, lays bare the disgraced banker's menacing management style and indulgent extravagances during his time at the helm of part-nationalised bank RBS, reports the Daily Mail.

Masters Of Nothing: The Crash And How It Will Happen Again alleges the man dubbed ‘Fred the Shred', due to his ruthless obsession with cost-cutting, could not control his anger if the wrong type of biscuit was put in the boardroom.

In an email titled ‘Rogue Biscuits', catering staff were threatened with disciplinary action after someone had the audacity to offer executives pink wafers, it claims.

RBS staff also ‘went into panic mode' after a window cleaner fell off a ladder in Sir Fred's office and broke a toy aeroplane.

Staff at the bank ‘were absolutely terrified of him', said Peter de Vink, managing director of Edinburgh Financial & General Holdings.

One whistleblower said Sir Fred wasted huge sums indulging his personal tastes as the bank ran up huge losses. Such extravagances included redecorating the lobby outside his office to the tune of £1,000 due to a tiny stain and flying in fruit from Paris daily. 

Sir Fred's disastrous time in charge of the Royal Bank of Scotland left the taxpayer with a multi-billion-pound bail-out bill.

He lost his £4.2m-a-year job as chief executive of RBS as a condition of the bank's bail-out in 2008.