The Royal Mail privatisation has been a resounding success: shares were priced at the top range of 330p and are now trading at 440p. The 99.7 per cent of Royal Mail staff who took shares have today seen the value of their stake jump by a third. Ditto the 15,000 Royal Mail middle managers who applied for a medium-term share programme and will keep the stake for three years. For once, I disagree with Spectator associate editor Allister Heath: he’s appalled that the government denied any shares to those who asked for £10,000 or more so all of those who applied for £750 could be satisfied. I’m delighted, and say in my Daily Telegraph column today that it represents the triumphant return of popular capitalism. It’s no accident that this has been overseen by Michael Fallon, a Tory radical who has been making the case for popular capitalism since Jim Callaghan was in power.
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