Goodwin: a Government adviser until five weeks ago

Now this casts the continuing row over Fred Goodwin and his pension in a fresh light.  Turns out that Goodwin sat on a panel advising the Government about financial matters until five weeks ago, some months after his management of RBS has driven the bank to collapse and triggered its effective nationalisation.  According to the Newcastle Journal, Alistair Darling wrote to him on 28 January, relieving him of the position and thanking him for his “personal contribution”.

There’s much talk around Westminster that the Government has used the Goodwin row to distract from other embarrassing stories.  But the bitter irony is that it could be far more politically damaging than any £billion bailout or divide over Royal Mail.  Revelations like today’s just reinforce the impression that Brown & Co. were in cahoots with some of the chief antagonists of the banking crisis, and that they should share the blame for the mess.