Charles Moore’s column today on the similarities between Gordon Brown and Sir Fred Goodwin, formerly of RBS, is well worth reading. As Charles writes, “What is the difference between Sir Fred and Mr Brown? Mr Brown is still in his job.”
Charles also points out how difficult, pace Kevin Maguire, nationalising the banks would be:
“Even with his abiding faith in the beneficence of government and of himself, Mr Brown must know that nationalisation of the banks would be a nightmare. Either it would require compensation (£125 billion on the latest book value of the banks concerned), which would cause taxpayer outrage, or expropriation, which might make markets lose all faith in this Government. He must realise that he would have to adjudicate, impossibly, between the needs of banks to restore order in their balance sheets and “national needs” such as lending to small businesses, or, more basely, pouring money into marginal constituencies.
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