I doubt there will be many tears shed within BP on either side of the Atlantic when chief executive Tony Hayward finally makes an exit. Over the last two months, he has presided over the worst period in the company’s history, during which time its market value fell by around 40 percent in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. What was once the UK’s most powerful business is now in danger of a takeover by Russian and Chinese oil giants, with even Libyan investors circling in the wings. Tony Hayward is certainly no Tony Blair, with his distinct lack of leadership ability and extremely poor public-speaking skills. By any measure, Hayward was the wrong man in charge of a company in deep crisis, prone to gaffes and seemingly insensitive to the plight of the large number of U.S. victims of the man-made environmental catastrophe. Whether it was whining about “getting his life back” or sailing his yacht while oil continued to gush into the ocean, the BP chief couldn’t put a foot right. As Rahm Emanuel wryly remarked, “I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting.” Hayward also never gave the impression that he was fully in charge of his company, or knew exactly what was going on inside it. Not only was he tarred and feathered by a congressional committee in June, he seemed incapable of answering the most basic questions about BP’s operations. It was a cringe-worthy performance, more pantomime than political theatre. As he departs for a likely new post somewhere on the Eastern Front, Hayward leaves behind a battered multinational with an uncertain future that will now be led by an American, Bob Dudley. It is in the firm interests of both the United States and Great Britain to keep BP afloat. After all, it is a truly Anglo-American operation that employs 29,000 people in the United States, and a takeover by a potentially hostile power would be a tremendous blow to both countries’ economies. About 18 million people in Britain have a financial stake in BP through their pension funds, and it is an enterprise that contributes billions of dollars a year to the coffers of both the U.S. and UK treasuries. The transatlantic acrimony over BP at one point even threatened to damage the Special Relationship, and the Obama administration’s relentless bashing of BP, with its “boot on the throat” rhetoric, was viewed widely in the UK as anti-British. Wisely, the White House has toned down the threatening language. Barack Obama and David Cameron have pledged to work together to address the aftermath of the Gulf disaster, ensuring that BP takes full responsibility for the clear-up and compensation, while endeavoring to preserve the long-term future of the company. Whether BP survives in one piece remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: It is in far safer hands now that Tony Hayward is heading to Moscow rather than the Louisiana coast. – Nile Gardiner is the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation.