SIR CHRISTOPHER GENT’s unprecedented attack on his successor at Vodafone reveals just how much the atmosphere at the mobile phone giant has worsened in the three years since he departed.

The man who turned Vodafone from British operator to global giant makes clear that he is watching from the sidelines in dismay — by highlighting how different the company was during his tenure.

He points out that the company was once “characterised by openness and trust” that was “mercifully free of company politics and blame culture”. Today, some of those who know Vodafone intimately say that a poisonous atmosphere has set in under the leadership of Arun Sarin.

Critics of Mr Sarin, the chief executive, say that he fiercely attacks senior colleagues in their absence, a trait said to be sufficently well known that a culture of caution has set in at the once-buccaneering company as executives fear for their positions rather than take risks.

“He doesn’t like being told what he doesn’t want to hear,” said one well-informed source, who added that they “got an ear chewed off” by Mr Sarin when offering a dissenting opinion.

Peter Bamford, the long- serving marketing director, was dismissed abruptly last week in an apparent sign of aggressiveness by the Vodafone boss.

Sir Christopher’s statement is the first time that he has gone public with his unhappiness at the state of Vodafone, although his views have been not been kept secret from those who know him well.

Always sensitive to personal criticism, Sir Christopher reacted badly to suggestions that he had been involved in briefing against Mr Sarin. Last week it was suggested that Sir Christopher, still a substantial shareholder, had been planning to vote against the re-appointment of the chief executive, because he objected to the appointment of Andy Halford as finance director.

The former Vodafone boss, now chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, is understood to have felt that the information about his voting intentions came from his former employer. Although the source of the story is not clear, Sir Christopher believed that he was under attack at a time when Mr Sarin was struggling to save his job.

“If there is a ‘whispering campaign’ or ‘conspiracy’, which I very much doubt, then I am not party to it,” Sir Christopher’s statement says.

Under Sir Christopher’s leadership between 1997 and 2003, Vodafone completed a dizzying serious of acqusitions, costing well over £150 billion. The then chief executive’s style was to prepare the ground for each of the moves, softening up the City with hints to ensure that no move was unexpected. Mr Sarin, who was handed a disparate collection of assets by Sir Christopher’s deal-making, refuses to take that approach, taking few people from outside the company into his confidence. Moves such as the failed $38 billion bid for AT&T Wireless came as a complete surprise.

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