Salmond's dangerous corporatism exposed

glenlivetguy

This is dynamite...letter dated May 2007.RBS bid of a staggering £72billion was made 25th April,So Salmond knew the enormity of the amount of risk RBS was taking even if La salle was sold on for £21billion, and Santander taking a little of the rest. As an ex banker,what was Salmond doing egging on Sir Fred with what many realised then was suicidal.RBS shares had been trading at £17..... now 21p.
One wonders if the Donald Trump NE Scotland Golf Course and Housing Development does not do as well as initially envisaged, whether other supportive letters may come to light.

Andy

“By international convention, when banks which operate in more than one country get into these sorts of conditions, the bailout is shared in proportion to the area of activities of those banks. In the case of the RBS…roughly speaking 90% of its operations are in England and 10% are in Scotland.”
- Andrew Hughes Hallett,
Professor of Economics at St Andrew’s Uni

The Federal Reserve stepped in to bail out US operations linked to RBS and HBOS. In Europe the governments of France, Belgium The Netherlands and Luxembourg joined forces to help the Fortis and Dexia Banks operating across their borders.

Dogzzz

More left wing corporatism AKA corrupt crony capitalism... Showing how unfit to govern a grown up responsible government Salmond really is. It is easy to look good when being continuously bailed out by subsidies. He would have no such luxury if Scotland were independent.

David Ossitt

The lying duplicitous bastard.

Kennybhoy

Nice one Maister Islam and Channel Four!

I mean we all knew that this was the case but it is nice to have the lying wee bastard's signed confession!

John

Priceless. There are some things money can't buy

2trueblue

What a surprise, another politiian who has no idea about real economics. What a .anker. It is amazing how the Sots now appear to have totally .uggared our economy, Brown, Blair, Darling, Salmond. Any others we don't yet know about? Get rid of them.

daniel maris

I think one issue is coming to the fore but hasn't yet been resolved:

Are there going to be two successor states (as Salmond claimed in an interview tonight) or will the UK continue in being?

It must be open to question since it was the union of England and Scotland that created the United Kingdom in the first place (which Ireland can then be said to have joined later).

JohnOfEnfield

They deserve each other (Fred & Alex).

hfc

Breathtaking venal hypocrisy.

Frank P

This is more likely to thwart Salmond's plans:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/independent-scotland-could-be-exactly-the-same%2c-warn-experts-201201114752/

Wilhelm 1

David Ossitt

'' The lying duplicitous bastard.''

Is that in regards to Frasers much promised article about Neathergate ?

Bob

This is surely old news? These things now appearing in London media have already been around in Scotland for weeks, if not years (only shows how far the two places are removed).

Gawain

Priceless ! So the SNP was up to its armpits in the banking crisis after all ! If Salmond showed this level of judgement back in 2007 the new Scottish Republic is welcome to him. Still, I bet his cosy friends in the Post British Broadcasting Corporation will find a way to explain this one away as usual. For those of us not allowed to participate in the debate because we live in England we will just have to learn to laugh at the Scots a bit more. The sight of Salmond on Newsnight posing like Bonnie Prince Charlie at a fireside was wonderfully comic and his po faced squirming when asked about the Euro actually made me giggle. I have changed my mind now. I hope the neverendum lasts for years as I suspect Salmond and the SNP will provide hours of entertainment.

In2minds

This letter shows that the "arc of prosperity" Salmond was always screeching about was as ill founded as the boom times that Ireland and Iceland 'enjoyed' before it all went wrong.

Salmond seems to be as bad with money as Gordon Brown who banished boom and bust and replaced it with just the latter. My sympathy to all Scots.

Wilhelm 1

Frazer

Show me a politician who isn't a liar or do you believe they ALL tell the truth ? I suppose you also believe in the Tooth Fairy.

TomTom

The kind of letter a Public Inquiry into RBS might have revealed and for which reason no public inquiry takes place !

HampsteadOwl

All political careers end in failure. Salmond's won't be any different, though it is good to see some helping hands being applied at long last.

The SNP leader has had it too easy too long: what politician couldn't flourish under conditions where your job is to spend money someone else has given you, and blame the English when things go wrong. If the media has finally got tired of giving Salmond hubris injections and moved on to pricking him in other ways, it is all to the good.

disenfranchised

salmond and clegg, peas in a pod. making all the noise, with no accountability, and both totally superfluous.....

Austin Barry

There is even a facial resemblance between Salmond and former Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the mendacious, banker-fellating buffoon.

Cowen, whose fleshy corrupt face perfectly epitomises the Irish ruling class, is now manning the bells at Notre Dame, perhaps Salmond will ultimately join him.

G. Campbell

"Faisal Islam at Channel Four has unearthed a letter"

Correction: The Sunday Herald newspaper has unearthed and published a letter. Six months ago, in fact.

That high-speed-rail-link-to-Scotland-which-will-never-happen can't come quick enough if this is how long it takes for news to reach London.

ellis000

I had to laugh this morning at BBC Breakfast interviewing a very stupid woman from Doncaster who had picketed the Margaret Thatcher film. She, and the Wee Eck, claim that Thatcher devastated the mining communities/Scotland. Well, whatever the blessed Margaret did or did not do pales by comparison with the damage done by that gurnimg Prime Mentalist Brown - Scotland's imposition on England.

Heartless Curmudgeon

Thank you to all who exposed this.

Like that other Scots genius of financial wizardry, he fawned on barmy bankers.

David L

Salmond gets away with so much because the cottish Parliament is a talent-free zone. But Cameron has put him in the spotlight, and we'll start to see him for what he is - a medium-sized fish in a tiny pond. Smart move, Prime Minister.

Olaf

I've absolutely no doubt if Scotland had been independent 10 years ago we'd be in exactly the same state as Ireland is now. Fiscal hindsight is worthless.

idle

PIGGS? Who is the other G - Georgia? Ghana? Surely not Germany.

PIIGS is the word.

michael

I don't think the Scots give a monkeys as long as they don't have to cough for RBS... Conversely, Mr Salmond probably believes that if he can swing it to show that even by a 'wink wink nudge nudge' accident he has really stung the English the sun will radiate even more triumphantly from the heart of his bottom.
-This faux oppression that Mr Salmond hammers home daily, is the nemesis of Scotland's clear headed common sense.
- Well worked innuendo though.

Anon

"the acquisition which was so hubristic that it went on to sink the whole banking group"

"Hubristic" seems like a euphemism here, implying that the company merely experienced bad karma as a result of a moral failing. Looking at it in practical business terms, however, it actually implies a systemic failure in the company's recruitment policy.

Fish

Yes HC. We are told by commentators that this 'Politician of the Year' is the most astute political operator in Britain today. These, the same commentators who told us of the towering genius of Gordon Brown.

I think that this proves that those who see themselves as being at the top of policial analysis are as crap in their judgement as the politicians they suck-up to.

As far as Salmond is concerned, this particular Emporer's new clothes amount to little more than cynical, dog whistle politics with liberal helpings of barely disguised racism. Where he does excel is in transference - the ability to accuse others of pulling the strings whilst he treats the Scots as his personal puppets.

Watch out Scotland - this is no latter day Bruce, more an Alex McChavez

General Zod

"Yours for Scotland"

What a fool!

The Answer

A snp press release:

Responding to the pre-tax profit figures announced by the Royal Bank of Scotland today and HBOS/Bank of Scotland yesterday, the leader of the SNP Mr Alex Salmond MP said they were two major Scottish success stories and we need to build on Scottish success, as the SNP propose in our economic programme 'Let Scotland Flourish', and support it to succeed on the global stage.

Commenting Mr Salmond said:

"The Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS/Bank of Scotland are two major Scottish success stories. Indeed, they are the two biggest Corporation Tax payers in the UK - these two companies alone pay about the same amount in Corporation Tax as GERS allocates to the whole of Scotland.

"We need to build on Scottish success, as the SNP propose in our economic programme 'Let Scotland Flourish', and support it to succeed on the global stage. That will be good for the Scottish economy and Scottish jobs.

"And it's vital that our world class banks extend their social reach through local branch networks, free ATM services, and social banking initiatives for those not currently accessing financial services."

ENDS

http://adelaide112.snp.org/node/8151

David Ossitt

Wilhelm 1

David Ossitt

'' The lying duplicitous bastard.''

“Is that in regards to Frasers much promised article about Neathergate?”

No not really; Fraser is not a duplicitous bastard, but then he did promise a piece on Neathergate and should give us one or he should explain in great detail just who or what is stopping him.

Douglas McLellan

Um. This was doing the rounds before the election last year. Why the outrage now?

michael

Mr Salmond appears to be yet another of those Scottish financial wizkids who could benefit from free tuition.

strapworld

If Glenn Campbell is correct and The Sunday Herald ran this story months ago, it certainly says a lot about our wonderful press in the UK does it not?

OR did they ignore it because they could see a collision between Salmond and Cameron.

That said it does not take away the fact that Salmond has weakened his own case about not having anything to do with the banks, it was all down to the UK treasury.

Mind you Cameron aint got a patch on Salmond and neither has boy george.

The Remittance Man

Over 300 years ago it was a similarly disasterous co-operation between the Scottish government and Scottish business (the Darien Scheme) that led to financial collapse and calls from the Scottish elite for union with England.

It would be poetically ironic if another disasterous foray into business by inept Scottish leaders foiled their latest attempt at independence.

Pettros

What a scoop! Oh wait.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/revealed-salmond-s-support-for-goodwin-over-disastrous-rbs-deal-1.1046662

Simon Stephenson.

"Even Brown acted with more decorum: if a British Prime Minister would have sent a note to a FTSE100 company urging it to load up with debt and make a dodgy acquisition then there would be uproar — and rightly so."

Srange. I should have thought that Brown's involvement in facilitating the Lloyds takeover of HBOS was far more deserving of uproar than Salmond's short letter of encouragement to Goodwin. But then, I suppose that, at present, the top of the Westminster political must-do list is the vilification of Alex Salmond, and so anything questionable he has ever done will be portrayed as being more discreditable than anything anyone else has ever done.

mongoose

That's a fine array of honours for a humble CA to have acquired.
Cream rises to the top, as they say.

Axstane

We had them in Scottish pairs - two Prime Ministers, two Chancellors, two erratic and overblown banks. Now it appears that Scotland's First Minister is just as culpable and we stll haven't plumbed the depths of the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Roll on the referendum after which Scotalnd, one way or the other, can dispense with Salmond and the SNP.

Fatbloke on tour

Trevor

This whole story is probably bigger than Wee Eck and his huge ego.

Timing is everything, consequently any thoughts on the following -

Churnalism
Pet journalists,
Useful idiots
Pre pack stories
Tory Research Department
Routes to market
More where that came from.
News Management.

Interesting stuff all round.
Consequently hats of to the SH.
They might be a comic but they scored with this.

Nicholas

But Fatso, this is devolution - a New Labour invention. Without devolution the Shrek-faced one wouldn't be such a big fish in his small pond.

As a good Little Englander I'm waiting for devolution for England and freedom forever from your ghastly socialist mates.

Jez

Yesterday there was this (my description here;) f*cktard on Radio 2 who was Ex editor of the Scotsman, University nob- all that..... and his main argument for Scotland being part of the Union was that there were Catholics and Protestants that had to be kept in line by 'English Progressiveness'. Gay rights etc, etc. He also w*ankered on that there was only 0.5 of the population that was 'diverse'- and that it was a 'mono-culture'. He was a Labour supporter.

The Right is now throwing absolutely everything they can up to smear anyone that it sticks to, to be honest.

And this is it. England in many parts may be heading toward a social meltdown. In many places due to progressive ideas such as flooding areas full of person from the third world, Eastern Europe etc, then the strain this has is quite a negative. The Summer riots, Islamism, white lower classes almost terminally unemployable- these are (again, my opinion only) 'f*cking sh*t'.

The powers that be are almost denying that there is an ethnic group called the English. We are taught to hate our past and celebrate our rapid replacement by others.

No f*cking wonder the Scots want us to p*ss off.

Labour, Tory, the media, big greedy fat cats(et al) have made this bed.

Skit. It looks like the whole place is going to split up now because of you lot.

gavin

Trouble is , Salmond did NOT regulate the banks or the City. This was all down to Westminster, the Bank of England, The FSA, the Treasury and the Chancellor in whatever order.Re-writing history wont do.

Fergus Pickering

I think Salmond is fine and adds to the gaiety of nations. But I must admit if he roled up to my door selling life insurance I'd be inclined to count the spoons ere he departed.

What HAS caused him to put on all that weight. Fried Mars Bars? Irn Bru?

Fergus Pickering

How interesting. I could not post my comment on wee Eck until I had deleted the fattist element.

Radford NG

"England,England,England./You're not any more./You used to be English./You're not any more/You're not any more.~~~This was a chant on Saturday by Nottm. Forest fans to Leicester City fans(Leicester having been taken-over by Thai interests).It appeared on You-tube.Police are investigating it as a Racist Hate Crime.

Kennybhoy

Going on 24 hours since this post went up and ner a sign o' the usual cybernat response hereabputs.

I wonder why? lol

ThigArLatha

Corporatism is a big allegation.
Let's just consider some countries that have had it.
Salazars Portugal. Companies that were on the Goverment side get preferential treatment and monies to enrich themselves.
The populace treated as little more than slaves to allow a small minority to get rich.
We had a minor form of it in the 1960s with "National Champions" such as ICL and English Electric. Subsidies were given to encourage companies to go to new areas. Rootes going to Linwood?
Now what we have here is a man who has said that he wants a business to succeed. (Incidentally one he used to work for)
Do we expect that he is going to want a company to fail?

Dimoto

This is just a small taster of what will happen in the referendum campaign.

Labour are very dirty, and they will be fighting for their lives ....
.... and as usual, it will all prove to be counter-productive.