The British executive at the centre of the Gulf Coast oil disaster hit back yesterday against accusations that BP had reacted too slowly, telling The Times that the company would have a giant steel hood in place over the worst leak by tomorrow. For the first time since the fatal explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig two weeks ago, Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, claimed that the company was winning the race to contain the spill and indicated that it was ready to fight some of the lawsuits heading its way. Even as the first pictures emerged of oil breaking...