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Sir Fred Goodwin was PM's guest at Chequers

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Published Date: 17 July 2009
By ROSS LYDALL
FOR months he was the most reviled man in the country, blamed for the banking collapse, but as elusive as Lord Lucan.
Now it has emerged that, as his world collapsed around him, Sir Fred Goodwin, the man who virtually destroyed Royal Bank of Scotland, was enjoying the Prime Minister's hospitality at Chequers.

Sir Fred, who was entertained at taxpayers' expense, w
as one of a number of bankers invited to the Prime Minister's country retreat in Buckinghamshire. Others entertained between April 2008 and March 2009 were Lloyds TSB's then chairman Sir Victor Blank and chief executive Eric Daniels and RBS's new chief executive, Stephen Hester.

Mr Brown was said to have "stitched up" with Sir Victor Lloyds' controversial takeover of HBOS. Sir Victor was later ousted by Lloyds shareholders furious that the bank's share price had plummeted as a result of taking on HBOS's massive debts.

SNP MP Stewart Hosie said: "Instead of lavishing hospitality, the Prime Minister should have been asking Sir Fred some tough questions. As billions of pounds is poured into RBS, the true cost of this dinner may never be known."

Downing Street last night released the annual hospitality list of guests invited to Chequers, but refused to reveal the date of any of the visits. RBS came to the verge of collapse in October 2008 as a result of massive investment in the US subprime market and the disastrous takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro.

The guest list included Bruce Forsyth, Little Britain stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas, comedian Jimmy Carr, writer Bill Bryson and actors Emma Thompson, Greg Wise and Alan Rickman.

Politicians included former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ming Campbell and the current and former Scottish secretaries, Jim Murphy and Des Browne.





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1

Alan B,

17/07/2009 00:27:39
A bit of payback for Goodwin not turning round and blaming Brown for the whole mess.

2

DialMforMurdoX,

17/07/2009 00:28:10
Jimmy Carr? Jimmy Carr? FFS
3

The New Scirocco,

On my way home 17/07/2009 00:43:31
Why can't the prime minister of the UK invite some-one with a deep inside knowledge of where this whole house of cards went wrong, perhaps some invaluable inside knowledge was gained, we will never know

Doom mongers get a life
4

Alan B,

17/07/2009 00:52:40
#Scirocco

Given that brown is the core reason the whole thing went wrong he already has that inside knowledge.
5

Alan B,

17/07/2009 00:55:19
#Scirocco

" perhaps some invaluable inside knowledge was gained"

yes with the guest list below i am sure brown will get an insight and have detail discussions on the reasons for the failure of the banking system and meltdown of the uk economy.

"The guest list included Bruce Forsyth, Little Britain stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas, comedian Jimmy Carr, writer Bill Bryson and actors Emma Thompson, Greg Wise and Alan Rickman."
6

Alan B,

17/07/2009 00:58:06
Out of interest why are we the tax payer paying for this junket so brown can swan around with tv personalities.

Does he not have a proper job to do?

Has he got too much time on his hands now he has wrecked the economy?
7

donald,

glasgow 17/07/2009 01:11:54
Was Lorraine wearing her British Army uniform and Butcher's Apron?

Has Thatcher been invited back?
8

Ronald Penman,

Glasgow 17/07/2009 01:43:44
So one dangerous, delutional, sociopath will a total absense of understanding of the financial sector invites another round to tea at our expence. Now where is the harm in that ?
9

The New Scirocco,

Home and can't belive it 17/07/2009 04:48:49
Oh for goodness sake you lot, the collapse of the GLOBAL economy is the reason, not our previously fairly big Scottish bank, since when did we last have a massive global impact?

Anyway I don't think all the mentioned guests were there at the same time, but with some of them it would at least have been a right laff, which is more than some of you seem capable of.
10

John Cameron,

St Andrews 17/07/2009 07:11:38
"Instead of lavishing hospitality, the Prime Minister should have been asking Sir Fred some tough questions." This assumes the Great Ditherer knew something about economics and finance which, given his historically dire record as Chancellor of the Exchequer, is clearly an assumption too far.
11

The Saltire,

17/07/2009 07:41:10
10

Who controls the global economy if it isnt the G8? Isnt the UK a member of the G8 didnt Brown attend the meetings and help form the global economic policy?
Or was he the one disenting voice in a room of economic morons?
The fact remains the buck for the state of the UK economy stops at the doors of no. 10 and 11 Downing street nowhere else. Consecutive UK governments have allowed themselves to become puppets of the Captains of industry not only within the UK but globally.
They dont form policy for their contitiuents but for those who pay the most in party funding.
Our government is a global prostitute and will remain so within the present system of party funding.
12

Andrew Morton,

Berkshire 17/07/2009 08:16:20
Oh well, it's fair enough I suppose since GB had asked sir Fred to take the rap for this man made financial disaster.

It's the least Gordo could do, give sir Fred a bite to eat and a cup of tea for in return for Sir Fred to take the blame for Gordo's b@lls up.

It's quite school playground stuff, isn't it?

GB: Fred, if you take the blame, I'll give you 2 cream bums and a cup of tea.

Sir Fred: Throw in £19 million and you've got a deal!
13

BIG EYE,

Paisley 17/07/2009 08:33:21
And here we were wondering where all these bankers picked up their dodgy dealings!
14

john z,

edinburgh 17/07/2009 08:36:53
Nobody has so far picked up on it yet, but yesterday when Brown was answering questions from the liaison committee in Westminster, he was asked by his MP in Glasgow, Anwar, whether they planned to now have devolution for england. Brown's response? to state that as we all know, the majority of MP's in this house (Westminster) are english anyway. In other words, you don't need english devolution, because Westminster is more or less the english parliament anyway.

Even worse, when he was asked if Westminster should 'scrutinise' the dealings of the devolved administrations, he said yes. In other words, we could have a democratically elected government in Scotland being summoned to the english parliament to account and explain what it is doing, to ensure the satisfaction of westminster. And they wonder why support for independence is increasing??

Can you imagine Sarkozy of France being summoned to the reichstag in Germany to explain the actions of his government to the Germans??

The Scottish government and first minister are elected by and answerable to, the people of Scotland. The english parliament should mind its own business.

London can still technically take all power away from the Scottish government whenever it wants. If we do not get independence, some government in the future might just do exactly that. Scotland needs control over the Scottish parliament, even if we do not have independence.
15

john z,

edinburgh 17/07/2009 08:43:00
More of a scandal than Goodwin, by a large margin, is tha fact that every man and woman in Scotland currently pays for over 700 peers in the house of Lords in London. There is a recession, and we are still forced to pay for these 700 grandees to swan about in London.

It is time we Scots got rid of the outdated undemocratic english parliament, as we have a very good modern one in Scotland, and Scotland has no need for 700 peers, black rod, wigs and tights, and all the pomp in London.

Westminster is SO inefficient, and such a waste of money for taxpaying Scots.
16

john z,

edinburgh 17/07/2009 08:45:10
Oh, and why are we still spending more money on a pointless war in afghanistan, than the total annual Scottish budget??
17

Old Cartha Boy,

17/07/2009 09:20:11
Re #2 - I'd add in a few more FFS re Jimmy Carr and it still wouldn't be enough!
18

Yeah1,

17/07/2009 09:47:59
#15

"Can you imagine Sarkozy of France being summoned to the reichstag in Germany to explain the actions of his government to the Germans??"

Er....Germany and France are two completely separate countries. They aren't in a union, unlike the UK.

"The Scottish government and first minister are elected by and answerable to, the people of Scotland. The english parliament should mind its own business."

Its the UK parliament - it has 59 Scottish MPs, and MPs from Wales and Northern Ireland too.
19

The New Scirocco,

away hame 17/07/2009 10:02:49
Government of the people by the people is preferable to some of the other systems at work in the world, I fully get behind an independent Scotland and hope it happens one day but we are all well off here where we are and a lot better off than most of humanity. We can all get better if we try so instead of negativity lets have some positives

Like benevolent communism
20

The Saltire,

17/07/2009 10:05:57
19

They are in a European Union as equal free nations unlike Scotland who is a member of a union equivilant to Estonia, Latvia or the Ukraine when they were within the old Soviet Union.
The UK union should be a smaller version of the EU instead its a smaller version of the USSR.
In fact the lie put out by unioists would have us believe we live in a union equivilant to the EU instead of the truth of being within a union equivilant to the USSR.
Its why we want and need Independence if we were in the equivilant of the EU then there wouldnt be any need for Independence would there?
21

The Saltire,

17/07/2009 10:07:03
20

Idiot.
22

Laird O'Gorgie,

17/07/2009 10:26:06
#19 Incorrect there is no UK parlaiment, instead we have a English parliament which has incorporated some MPs from the outer provinces.
23

Marian,

17/07/2009 11:39:24
It's no secret that Blair and Brown sought favour with the banker's of the UK and it was their worship of the UK financial services industry that led to Brown's useless "light touch regulatory system" that eventually brought the system crashing down.
24

Sedov,

17/07/2009 11:58:32

No suprise here for the bosses man Brown.

This grovelling to Goodwin and his pals follows Brown's first act when he was made PM - an invite to back to tea at no 10 for Maggie Thatcher

The trade union leaders, are much to blame for supporting the coronation of Brown against union members wishes.

25

Yeah1,

17/07/2009 12:47:21
#23

"Incorrect there is no UK parlaiment, instead we have a English parliament which has incorporated some MPs from the outer provinces."

Er....no - its the UK Parliament. It has an equal amount of MPs from each country of the union based on population size.
26

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 17/07/2009 13:15:47
Who in their right mind would want to spend a weekend with Gordon Brown?

Clearly, he's using taxpayers' money to set up a network of contacts so that he has a job to go to once he is booted out in a few months time.
27

Andrew Morton,

Berkshire 17/07/2009 13:29:39
27

Mrs Brown?
28

The New Scirocco,

in the garage 17/07/2009 13:36:07
Saltire

perhaps you are in favour of sharia then instead of democracy
29

JCA REID,

Annan 17/07/2009 13:43:31
Rather odd, PM Brown & the ex-RBS boss Goodwin meeting to discuss financial/economic policy when they don't hold ANY qualifications in the subject, or banking for that matter, between them on the subject.
30

The Saltire,

17/07/2009 14:15:52
29

I have no experiance of either so its difficult for me to know which one is best. Are you familiar with either doctrine?
31

The Saltire,

17/07/2009 14:20:44
26

No it doesnt. The Westminster Parliament includes 2 HOUSES the house of Commons and the House of Lords so how can it be based on population ratios when the second house is unelected and doesnt represent constituencies? more bare faced lying youre obviously pushing for the editors job.
32

The New Scirocco,

18/07/2009 00:15:04
31

As a matter of fact I have personal experience of both and communism at work. If you have ever voted or had the opportunity to vote you for more than one alternative you are engaging in democracy.
The other two systems I would not want anything to do with where I reside and bring up my family.
Our system is imperfect, the only way to change it is to get involved not whining and moaning about it.
The small number of motivated activists get to control the lumpen majority

 

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