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Alistair Darling: Sir Fred acted like golfer as RBS collapsed
Markets
by Dylan Lobo on Sep 02, 2011 at 07:51
Leaked extracts from former chancellor Alistair Darling's book on his time in office underline the difficulties he had in dealing with bankers during the financial crisis.
The excerpts - which have been seen by the Daily Telegraph - in his book titled Back from the Brink: 1,000 days at No 11 offer an insight into Darling's mind as the he presided over a near collapse in the UK banking system during the financial crisis.
In the book Darling is said to describe bankers as 'stupid and arrogant' and wrote that former RBS chief Sir Fred Goodwin acted like he was 'off to play a game of golf' as the bank, which eventually succumbed to state ownership, was on the verge of collapse.
'I knew the bank was finished in the most spectacular way possible,' the chancellor penned.'The game was up. If the markets could give up on RBS – one of the largest banks in the world – then all bets were off.'
He added: 'My worry is that they [the bankers] were so arrogant and stupid they might bring us all down.'
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1 comment so far. Why not have your say?
PCIAM
Sep 02, 2011 at 09:41
To be fair, it wasn't just the bankers who were paralysed. Brown, Balls and to a lesser extent Darling were equally paralysed, and Shriti Vadera pulled them both back from the abyss.
Still, Darling is the nicest and most decent of the three men, and the Baroness has a certain reputation. I'd save him first and her second from shark-infested waters.
And the other two? Good question.
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