Institutional shareholders rewarded Lord Browne a golden handshake that could be worth more than £60 million, after much criticism from smaller shareholders at BP's AGM.

Shareholders voted 83 percent in favor of the package for Lord Browne, despite calls from some investors to reject the deal amid concerns over his inclusion in the company's latest three year incentive plan for directors, which runs until the end of 2009 and is expected to benefit Lord Browne by an additional $40millions on top of the £27 millions that he is due to leave office in July 07.

The Chairman of BP, Peter Sutherland defended Browne's inclusion in the incentive deal by saying “Lord Browne's retirement was brought forward by mutual agreement and he should not be penalized for the decision, given the years he has spent building up the company.”

This follows heavy criticism of BP due to poor safety which lead to the explosion at BP's Texas Oil Refinery in 2005 which killed 15 people and under performance of the BP stock price.

By Phillipa Green

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