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The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, gives his Mansion House speech tonight — his first since he defied Gordon Brown's attempts to shift him from the Treasury.
The speech could have been the cue for a US-style rethink about banking regulation.
Instead, the Chancellor will insist that there is nothing wrong with the tripartite system established by Mr Brown, which divides responsibility between the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority, the FSA.
He wants instead to see higher calibre people in bank boardrooms: “Their focus must be on long-term wealth creation, not short-term profits.”
Few people would argue against improving the calibre of banks' boards.
But Mr Darling's stubborn refusal to entertain change suggests a worrying inability to learn the obvious lesson of the credit crunch, which is that the division of responsibility for the regulation of financial institutions meant confusion about who was actually in charge.
Once there was no doubt about where the ultimate responsibility for bank regulation lay: it was with the Bank of England.
Now, the role of the Bank is unclear. It sets interest rates, certainly, by convening a committee of outside and internal experts twice a month, but its role beyond that is anyone's guess.
It should be restored to its leading role, providing a body and an individual — the Governor — to look at the bigger picture, to identify structural rather than day-to-day problems with the banking sector.
The FSA has been told that it should look at banks' business models as well as their accounts.
But where it serves a real and valuable purpose is in micro-regulation of institutions (insurance and consumer credit as well as banks), not the kind of large-scale oversight that the Bank can provide.
Its limitations should have been apparent to the Chancellor when the FSA gave its highest approval rating to Northern Rock before its collapse.
We already have a very good idea of the flaws in the banking sector that led to catastrophe; they were painstakingly outlined not long ago in the Turner report.
What we now need is to ensure is that those lessons are properly implemented. It is a job for the Bank of England.
A new Speaker
Today, the Speaker, Michael Martin, presides over his last Prime Minister's Questions.
It is an occasion for MPs from all sides of the Commons to pay tribute to him.
The difficulty is that while Mr Martin is an engaging and genial individual, he was the wrong man for the job. But from the plaudits we might think otherwise.
In the circumstances, and after the damage to MPs' standing by the running revelations in the Daily Telegraph about their expenses — the latest today concerning a Tory MP who allegedly claimed £57,000 for a flat owned by his company — the public might legitimately expect that the Commons would go out of its way to elect a Speaker with substance and authority.
But the depressing aspect of the election on Monday is that many MPs will be voting for the wrong reasons.
The favourite is the Tory MP John Bercow, supported by Labour for the simple reason that he is thoroughly disliked by his own side.
Mr Bercow does not possess any other obvious attributes for the job, certainly not natural authority and a clean record on expenses.
Some Tories, for their part, may vote for Frank Field on the basis that his own party dislikes him, though Mr Field is a man of real gifts.
But in the field there are several worthy, non-divisive candidates, including two women — Margaret Beckett and Ann Widdecombe — who would restore the standing of the Commons.
Why not vote for one of them?
Harold Pinter's place
The Hackney Empire is to commemorate the late great dramatist Harold Pinter, who was born in the area, with a room in his honour.
Mr Pinter's work had perhaps little in common with the panto for which the Empire is best known, but he would have been touched by the tribute.
Reader views (2)
As long as Gordo McRuin has the Bank of England in the situation it is at the moment, it will not be able to carry out its functions correctly. There are far too many Numpties in this puzzle. The Chancellor of the Exchequor, the FSA, the Treasury and the Bank of England.
'Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth'. but then when McRuin was 'Chancer of the Exchequor', he was an Economic Illiterate. He should never have had been promoted to Cabinet Rank. The biggest mistake Teflon B'Liar made, besides going into a 'Dodgy War' with Iraq.
But then, all New Labour policies have been built on false premises, dodgy evidence and even dodgier thinking.
- Uncle Vanya, East Anglia Area UK, 18/06/2009 01:08
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After Margaret Beckett's expenses fraud, she should not be allowed anywhere near the job. You would think the politicians would learn, wouldn't you? But it's going to be the same old same old...
- Ken, Bexleyheath, 17/06/2009 10:08
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