ABSTRACT
The year 1995 was one of transition. The two companies that emerged out of the failed privatisation in 1989 were merged to form British Energy, which would be sold to private investors in 1996. The key questions of 1995 were political; whether selling nuclear power was worth doing, and if so, whether the Scots would accept a merger with the English. The upshot was that BE was born as a political creature with a divided board and a culture of suspicion between the English and Scottish subsidiaries. These tensions were to become an enduring feature of BE’s board.
