We usually only give out Boot Awards for various bank CEOs, but Tony Hayward is notable, notorious, the CEO of a public company and has put his foot in his mouth with bank-CEO regularity, so it seems apropos enough of LOLFed to commemorate his ouster:

Tony has what I’d probably consider a bronze or silver parachute in this day of huge payouts – BP can terminate any exec at any time with the payment of one year’s salary, so in exchange for being the scapegoat, Tony gets what works out at last year’s rate to be £1-4 million depending on whether or not they count the bonuses.

At the time that I write this (which is 3AM Eastern, now that I do the math), rumor has it that the chosen successor will be BP’s managing director Robert Dudley, since it seems BP feels obligated to stick an American into the job at this point. Never mind that Dudley never really expressed interest in the job. Also, he’s an Amoco guy, and that’s the name a lot of advisors want BP to revert to in the US, since Americans have short memories and all it takes is a good rebranding effort to sweep a gabillion gallons of spilled crude under the rug.

Edited to add – Hayward is apparently being exiled to Siberia. He’s being offered a position on the board of TNK-BP, which is British Petroleum’s Russian venture.

Also, Jason was ready for the occasion with this oily boot which doesn’t deserve to be buried in the comments: