What Alistair Darling and I have in common

The coverage of Alistair Darling’s memoirs at the weekend was fascinating, not least for the almost universal respect he was shown. Some senior Labour figures tried the old “ancient history” line. But this was ridiculous given the fact that the events described are relatively recent and that they continue to have a profound effect on he Labour Party.

Darling was one of the few key players during the banking crisis to have kept a cool head. The extracts from his memoirs demonstrate just how difficult that must have been considering the utter chaos around him. The process of publishing these memoirs must have been difficult as he is someone who, by his cautious lawyerly nature, prefers to keep his counsel. But, of all the memoirs to have come out of the New Labour era this is possibly the most important.