Britannia Radio

Philip Webster (along with Peter Riddell) is at  the very heart of 
the New Labour cabal in The Times!

Lord Myners has been 'taken on board' in a big way by Gordon Brown 
but is no position to criticise anyone else for being "grossly over-
rewarded"   As Charles Moore pointed out in an earlier posting just 
sent "This week, another of Mr Brown's crony capitalists popped up in 
the papers. He is Paul Myners. He is an ex-director of NatWest, ex-
chairman of the Low Pay Commission - not a case of "Le patron mange 
ici" - and of Marks and Spencer and of The Guardian.

Last year, Mr Brown made him Lord Myners and Financial Services 
Secretary. Lord Myners has been sent on a mission to explain to 
frightened markets that the Government is not trying to nationalise 
the banks"

The tactics are to blame anyone except those who set the rules and 
organised the framework under which the banks played their 
undoubtedly risky games.  Brown profited from it as long as the 
bubble didn't burst.  But it was his regulkations and his 
organisations that told the banks to make hay!  So they did!  It was 
very  foolish but it was not corrupt.    The guilty man was in 
Downing Street and has merely moved next door dishing our peerages to 
cronies to help him escape our wrath.

xxxxxxxxxxx cs
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THE TIMES   24.1.09
City Minister Lord Myners attacks bankers for greed and arrogance

Philip Webster, Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson

A furious onslaught on banking's "masters of the universe" has been 
unleashed by Gordon Brown's City Minister.

Too many top bankers fail to realise they are grossly over-rewarded 
and have no sense of society, Lord Myners says in an interview with 
The Times.

With figures yesterday pointing to a longer and deeper recession than 
feared, lasting into 2010, Lord Myners says that banks have been 
mismanaged and delivers the strongest attack so far on those 
responsible.
He also reveals that the banking system was close to collapse before 
the first bailout was announced.

"We were very close on Friday, October 10. There were two or three 
hours when things felt very bad, nervous and fragile. Major 
depositors were trying to withdraw - and willing to pay penalties for 
early withdrawal - from a number of large banks."

Lord Myners says that there will have to be fundamental changes in 
the way that banks operate and that "the golden days of huge bonuses 
in the investment banking arms are gone".  [Britain has lived on the 
proceeds for 30 years!  What does he propose we live on now? -cs]

He calls on banking boards and shareholders to stamp on reckless 
behaviour of bosses and adds that if people have committed crimes 
they should be prosecuted. Lord Myners says: "I have met more masters 
of the universe than I would like to, people who were grossly over-
rewarded and did not recognise that. Some of that is pretty unpalatable.

"They are people who have no sense of the broader society around 
them. There is quite a lot of annoyance and much of that is 
justified. Let us be quite clear: there has been mismanagement of our 
banks."

The 1.5 per cent fall in national income between October and 
December, announced yesterday, was the biggest decline experienced 
since 1980, when Britain was fighting soaring unemployment and 
inflation at the beginning of the Thatcher era. The statistics led to 
dire predictions of the worst drop in growth in a calendar year since 
the Second World War.
Lord Myners' attack comes days after Gordon Brown vented his anger at 
Sir Fred Goodwin, the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive, 
and the "irresponsible risks" taken by the bank.  [All the time  
Goodwin was taking those 'irresponsible risks' Brown was as close 
friend and Chancellor! -cs]

Barclays chief executive John Varley was last night under extreme 
pressure after shares in the bank fell for a ninth day running.   
Barclays has lost 73 per cent of its stock market value during the 
last 12 trading sessions and an increasing number of City analysts 
believe he may be forced to quit.