Brown’s new dividing line ignores that banks are our route to salvation

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling will launch their umpteenth fight back today by talking tough on banks and bonuses. They hope to prove the Conservatives are interested solely in “helping their rich friends”. The Times has the details:

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‘The Chancellor will tell the party conference in Brighton that legislation to be introduced in the next few weeks will scrap automatic year-after-year bonuses and stop executives getting payouts unless they can prove they are deserved. Bonuses will be deferred over a period so that they can be clawed back if they are not warranted by long-term performance.’

This is not a dividing line. The Conservatives intend to curb short term-bonus culture, and the Conservatives will surely point out that the government have been bargaining with banks for a year and didn’t take the opportunity to abolish reward for failure.