I suspect Gordon Brown let out a roar of delight on hearing that the US government has reversed course and is going to take an equity stake in nine of the banks that it is bailing out. This deviation from the Paulson plan brings the US response to the financial crisis more closely into line with what is being done in this country and allows Brown to claim that he is setting the policy agenda that the world is following. This is an exaggerated claim—as Fraser has noted—but to be fair, the British model is better than the appalling, original-version of the Paulson plan.
The Prime Minister should enjoy this moment for things are going to start going wrong for him again soon. In today’s press, Rachel Sylvester, Iain Martin and Philip Johnston all give examples of the problems that Brown will have to face in the coming months.
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