(FORTUNE Magazine) – Robert Horton is an oilman the way America likes oilmen: burly and bold. That was his undoing at staid British Petroleum. After a confrontation with the board of directors over his management style, Horton, 53, resigned as chairman and CEO. Says Fergus MacCleod, a security analyst for County NatWest in London: ''He just rubbed too many people the wrong way.'' But in a sense that's what Horton was supposed to do. He earned his ''Horton the Hatchet'' nickname by cutting costs in previous jobs, most recently at BP America in Cleveland. Named to the top post in 1989, Horton set out to bust the bureaucracy and close the performance gap between stodgy BP and Shell Transport & Trading, Britain's half of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, a management paragon. With much fanfare Horton launched a reorganization that included cutting London headquarters staff from 2,000 to 600. But he became vulnerable when oil prices softened last year. Sales and earnings are falling, and debt is increasing, in part to maintain a daring exploration program. Horton's personal background may have hurt him too. The nine outside directors who forced him out include one peer (Lord Ashburton, who becomes chairman) and five knights. Horton's successor as CEO is David Simon, 53, a grad of Cambridge University's socially correct modern languages program. Horton earned a mechanical engineering degree at the less well known University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Industry wags quip that Shell is a corporation of oilmen who aspire to be gentlemen, whereas BP is a company of gentlemen who aspire to be oilmen. Perhaps Horton was with the wrong crowd.