...as in "temporary public ownership"? Months? Years?
If Northern Rock is still nationalised in public ownership on, oh I don't know let's pick a date or two at random, Thursday 7 May 2009 or Thursday 6 May 2010, will that still be temporary?
There may have been some immediate pain for Labour in using the "n" word today, but today was always going to be painful. The "temporary public ownership" formula is an open and standing invitation to the media and the Opposition to ask every Treasury minister at every opportunity just how long is temporary? (Just as Gordon Brown's preference for "investment" rather than "spending" should have created an unrelenting focus on whether the returns on the taxpayers' "investment" represent value for money. But that's another story.)
