Britannia Radio

The government has totally lost control of events and resorts to  
firefighting as each new incompetence comes to light.    Despite the 
outrage felt over this pension the big story today is the involvement  
of Gordon Brown in urging 'lighter touch' regulation onto the  
Financial Services Authority, thus causing the whole crisis.

Just look at this example of trying to explain away Gordon Brown's  
involvement in the whole financial crash.

+++++++++++++++++++
Lord Turner "passing the buck" by blaming Brown, says Geoffrey Robinson
[Robinson is close to Gordon Brown! -cs]

Geoffrey Robinson, Labour MP  on Daily Politics, BBC2
Mr Robinson said he was amazed at the criticism seemingly leveled at 
Gordon Brown yesterday by the  head of the FSA. [Who was not there at  
the time but has been appointed to clean it up and he mere;y said  
what - to his horror - he found! -cs]
“They were charged with proper regulation of the financial system  
there was at that time a  zeitgeist if you want to call it that in  
favour of lesser, not greater regulation”.
He said that a “rather phantom leap” from this to suggesting the  
Prime Minister had urged lighter regulations.  [He obviosly hasn't  
read what Lord Turner said -cs]
He said this was “frankly absurd. I’m amazed that Adair Turner would 
advance it”.
“Talk about passing the buck,” he added.
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Christina.
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POLITICS HOME    26.2 09
COMMENTS on the Goodwin Pension scandal
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Today Programme, BBC Radio 4 08:15
Darling: We've asked Goodwin to forego pension

Alistair Darling, Chancellor

Mr Darling said the government had asked ex-RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin  
to consider foregoing his £650,000 a year pension but was also taking  
advice from lawyers on a possible clawback in any case.

The Chancellor said he only heard of the pension deal a short time  
ago, adding: "When I found out it was very clear we had to go back to  
RBS to see who agreed this and why they agreed it and whether they  
have grounds to claw some of it back.

"People will find it very difficult to understand how you can get  
paid £650,000 a year for the rest of your life when you look at the  
state RBS is in at the moment.

"Lord Myners spoke to Sir Fred and put it to him quite simply - do  
you not think it is right to forego this. You cannot justify these  
excesses."

The government was still awaiting a reply, but: "We are exploring  
with RBS, and with lawyers what can be done," he said.
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BBC News at 09:38
John McFall attacks "hubris" of Sir Fred Goodwin's pensions

John McFall, Treasury Select Committee Chairman (Labour)

Mr McFall attacked the pension arrangements of former RBS chief  
executive Sir Fred Goodwin as "eye-watering", saying that the public 
will demand answers on who agreed the sum.

"This is an example of hubris on Sir Fred's part," he said, adding  
that the former RBS chief had brought the bank "down to it's knees  
and then leaving with not just a good pension, but a pension that is 
eye-watering in terms of it's sums".

Mr McFall  also said that he would be asking the acting chief  
executive of UK Financial Investments about the agreement over Sir  
Fred's pension in the coming week.
"I want to ask the acting the acting chief exec what negotiations  
he's had with RBS on this," he said.
"The public, now that they have 84% of Royal Bank of Scotland have  
got a right to know the answers"
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BBC News at 09:50
Fallon: Failure to resolve Goodwin pension in October "quite hopeless"

Michael Fallon, Deputy Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee   
(Conservative)

Mr Fallon said it was “quite hopeless” that the government had not  
resolved the issue of Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension when it initially  
bought a stake in the bank in October.

“Taxpayers own this bank and, by the way, we bought it back in  
October. It’s quite hopeless for the Chancellor to say he only found 
out about this now,” he said.

“When you buy a company or invest in it you check out what their  
executives’ arrangements are”.

Mr Fallon said that it was “wrong” that taxpayer money would be used 
to pay for Sir Fred’s pensions

“It’s wrong and I think Sir Fred ought to see that it’s wrong,” he  
said. “The taxpayer put in £20bn last October, today that wasn’t  
enough were having to put in another £13bn.

“Sir Fred Goodwin has wrecked a very good British bank and the  
taxpayer has had to cough up £33bn in subsidies to bail it out”
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BBC News at 11:28
Sir Fred Goodwin's pension "morally wrong" says Jim Murphy

Jim Murphy, Scotland Secretary

Mr Murphy said that the pension being  paid to Sir Fred Goodwin was  
“morally wrong” and urged Sir Fred to repay some of the money.

“It’s morally wrong. The governor wasn’t asked to agree this and all 
the details are only just now coming to light,” he said.
He added: “Sir Fred should do the right thing and hand this money back”.

He also said that the government did not want to nationalise RBS,  
despite now effectively owning an 84% stake in the bank.
“We don’t want to nationalise. RBS has been and perhaps still is the 
largest bank in the world we don’t want to take this bank into  
government ownership,” he said.

“It’s about getting this bank behaving like a bank again so it can  
free up capital”.
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Sky News at 11:57
PM: No one can support extensive pension arrangements at this time

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister

Mr Brown condemned the revelation the former RBS Chief is already  
benefiting from a £16 million pension pot, despite the bank  
announcing a record £24.1 billion annual loss.

"No one can support very extensive pension arrangements at this  
time," he said.   [And THAT’s all he had to say about the scandal ?  - 
cs]

He called for a 'cleaning up' of the banks: "This is the essential  
element for restoring faith in the banking system, not only to clean 
up the banks so they can start lending again, but so that the old  
bonus culture, the old renumerations culture and the old pensions  
culture can be swept away.

"We had to stop the bank collapsing to save people's deposits, we've 
now got to clean it up," he said.

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BBC News at 12:45
Osborne: Goodwin affair "stinks"

George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor

Mr Osborne said the Prime Minister's claim he did not know details of  
Sir Fred Goodwin's pension was "pathetic".

"This pension was awarded on their watch and it shows they have not  
had a grip on events. The whole thing stinks.

"Gordon Brown's excuse that he did not know what was happening is  
pathetic," he said.

He repeated his view that the pension was "obscene" but claimed the  
Prime Minister had been in a position to do something about it as the  
government had been involved with RBS since October.