James Forsyth James Forsyth

Moore pain for Brown

There are few things the press likes more than a whistleblower, they make for great copy. So, Gordon Brown will be alarmed to see Paul Moore, the HBOS whistleblower, appearing in The Independent on Sunday.

‘Paul Moore, the former head of risk at HBOS, told the IoS that he has more than 30 potentially incendiary documents which he will send to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. He says they disprove Mr Brown’s claim about the reasons for HBOS’s catastrophic losses – now estimated to be nearly £11bn – and show that it was the reckless lending culture, easy credit and failed regulation of the Brown years that led directly to the implosion of British banks.

After Mr Moore’s explosive testimony at the MPs’ banking hearing, the Prime Minister had denied the former executive’s central charges and said that HBOS’s difficulties were due to its flawed business model. Mr Moore says his documents refute this and prove the cause of the crisis can be laid at Gordon Brown’s feet. He believes Mr Brown’s failure to intervene over the reckless lending undertaken by all the banks over the past decade means he should go. “The failure goes right to the heart of the system – to the internal supervisory system and right to the top of government.” ’ If Moore is going to do the media rounds, it will result in more and more of the electorate blaming Brown for how bad the crisis is in Britain. As Pete said earlier, it is hard to see any good news for the Prime Minister at the moment.

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