Sunday 8 March 2009

Lloyds duo struggle to keep their jobs

From today's telegraph....

"Sir Victor Blank, the chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, and Eric Daniels, its chief executive, were hanging on to their jobs last night after signing a deal that could result in the taxpayer owning more than 75pc of Britain's biggest domestic lender."

The Lloyds-HBOS deal was an unmitigated disaster. However, Blanks and Daniels didn't cook it up on their own; Brown was the architect of this destructive merger. Herein lies the problem; if the Lloyds duo are forced to resign over this deal, then it leaves Brown rather exposed.

You have to wonder about Brown's political judgement. It didn't take too much imagination to see that gluing a toxic bank like HBOS to the otherwise healthy Lloyds bank might actually destroy two banks instead of one. Moreover, his intervention over this issue was so public that he needlessly tied himself to this sinking stone that now threatens to drag him under.

Wouldn't it have been better to delegate this issue to some expendable no-name junior minister. When things turned custard, Brown could have hidden behind her; thus evading responsibility. I thought that this was standard operating procedure for any competent Prime Minister.


5 comments:

Mitch said...

"I thought that this was standard operating procedure for any competent Prime Minister. "

nail on head time I would say.

Electro-Kevin said...

Nu Lab don't just spread contagion in banks. They do it in education and crime too - the answer to every ill, rather than to cure, is to infect those who are well in the hope that it will dilute the malady.

Sadly the Tories are the same - the whole political class in fact immunise themselves from the worst effects by affording themselves (through the taxpayer) the best schools, housing, police protection.

The refusal to recognise and reward good combined with the refusal to condemn and punish bad are decisions which will test our civilisation to destruction.

If you can leave Britain then do.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it will turn out to have been the fault of Harriet Harbinger? No doubt Lord Mortgagefraud is just the boy to rewrite history to prove that point.

Anonymous said...

With someone has no shame like Gordon Brown, he will simply claim he was against it at the time...

Anonymous said...

I love electro-kevin's comment

"the answer to every ill, rather than to cure, is to infect those who are well in the hope that it will dilute the malady."