Darling appoints his Brown's former Chief of Staff to Board of Northern Rock

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond has just reacted to the news that Tom Scholar has been appointed to the Board of Northern Rock:

“This completely blows apart Alistair Darling’s promise to run Northern Rock at arm’s length. Now he’s got his former chief of staff on the Board, how can he claim that Northern Rock will be run free from political interference?  The truth is that the Prime Minister doesn’t do ‘arms length’. He clearly has every intention of meddling in Northern Rock’s affairs for as long as it remains in public hands.”

Earlier today we learnt that a clause in the draft nationalisation bill means that Northern Rock won't be subject to the Freedom of Information Act while under public ownership.  George Osborne found that decision unacceptable:

“The public is now paying for this bank. We are entitled to know what it is doing with our money. It is completely unacceptable to exempt it from the Freedom of Information Act.  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has been incompetent and now he’s trying to cover his tracks.”

It will be this steady drip, drip, drip of negative stories that will turn Northern Rock into an albatross around the Government's neck.

6.35pm update: CCHQ have issued a correction - Scholar was Gordon Brown's CoS not Darling's. The point stands.

Comments

[Andrew Woodman]

Exec Chairman is a non dom as well. tut tut tut

[Sally Roberts]

"Free of political interference"...What a joke!!!

[deborah]

"The BBC's Peston said the woman Mr Sandler has chosen to be his £75,000-a-month chief financial officer, Ann Godbehere, is currently resident for tax purposes in Switzerland and is also likely to adopt non-dom status."

Tut tut tut.

[HF]

Brogan covers this but the response is that "Mr Hester is also a member of the Tory Reform Group"

also....
"Stephen Hester is chief exec of British Land Company Ltd, of which a subsidiary donated £1500 to the Scottish Labour Party last April."

So how does a member of the Tory Reform Group head up an organisation donating money to Labour?

Is he riding two horses or just confused? If any member of the party donated cash to another surely they have their membership rescinded?

[Malcolm Dunn]

When Hammond mentioned this last night on Newsnight Yvette Cooper started talking even faster drowning out both Hammond and Paxman. She was clearly very nervous talking about this.
I think you're right about the drip drip effect.Remember the full effect of our exit from the ERM was not felt for some time after the event when the full extent of Britain's humiliation became apparant to the general public.

[Joe James Broughton]

I disagree - it was very clear on the evening of Black Wednesday itself that we'd lost the next election there and then.
But there was a second leg of fall out over October/Nov 1992.

[Andy Strang]

Scholar is a naughty boy it seems: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bstephens/?id=110010086

[Paul Kennedy]

"The BBC's Peston said the woman Mr Sandler has chosen to be his £75,000-a-month chief financial officer, Ann Godbehere, is currently resident for tax purposes in Switzerland and is also likely to adopt non-dom status."

Tut tut tut.

Indeed Deborah, and what does one do for that sort of money. Seems as though there will be plenty of new snouts in the Northern Rock trough.

[michael mcgough]

What better vehicle to launder loans and donations.