G4S CEO Nick Buckles appeared before MPs on July 17 in order to answer questions on his security company's inability to provide sufficient security staff for the London Olympics. Having secured a £284m (€362m) contract for the Games, it emerged last week that G4S had failed to recruit the 10,400 security contingent needed for the event. As a result 3,500 members of the British army have been called in to make up for the shortfall. During a tense hearing which Guardian sketch writer Simon Hoggart described as "horrible, painful, almost bestial", Buckles admitted that his company's reputation was "in tatters."