Labour must make up for its failure on banking

It is a sign of how serious economic thought disappeared in the bubble – “who needs it when we’re all making money?” –  that public opinion is not pummelling Labour for its failure to regulate the banks. Even the most conservative of Spectator readers might have once have said, “Well I expect Labour governments to increase spending and throw my money around. I expect them to waste it on schemes that won’t help me, but at least I can count on them to treat the bankers like potential enemies of the state.”

I’m sure readers will correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot find one example of a centre-left government presiding over one of financial capitalism’s manic booms and crashes. True, Ramsay MacDonald’s 1929 Labour government was in power during the Wall Street Crash. But as its name implies the Wall Street Crash did not take place in the United Kingdom.