Alistair Darling is set to extend the scope of his supertax on City bonuses despite pleas from banks for special deals to water down the impact of the levy... more
WHO wants to have the tricky task of managing the taxpayers’ holdings in Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds-HBOS, Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock?... more
Are you talking to me or chewing a brick?” That was almost certainly the first time I came across a rhetorical question in the flesh. Of course, my fine education had already taught me what such a literary device was in theory ... more
So Brownite Treasury civil servant John Kingman is quitting as £143,000-a-year chief executive of UK Financial Investments, which oversees the Government's stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, Bradford & Bingley, etc... more
John Kingman surprised the City as he stood down as chief executive of UKFI, the body which looks after the Government’s huge stakes in bailed-out banks ... more
John Kingman doesn't like the limelight. The chief executive of UK Financial Investments was once a Financial Times journalist, but he almost never gives interviews...... more
UK Financial Investments, the quango set up to look after taxpayer stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scoltand, is clearly unhappy about the amount of media attention it is attracting ... more
The quango controlling the Government's stakes in British banks has warned it will take years for taxpayers to get their money back as losses on state-owned shares hit £13.2 billion... more
Once again, this Government has created a beast it cannot control. When Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland turned to the Treasury for their combined £37 billion bailout last year, wiser voices than mine argued for full rather than part privatisation ... more
The government body which looks after the taxpayer’s stake in bailed-out UK banks today gave its backing to the Lloyds Banking Group board after the ousting of chairman Sir Victor Blank ... more
Sir Philip Hampton, the new chairman of nationalised RBS, has blamed former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin for the bank's disastrous performance and Government bailout... more
Ministers' hopes of slashing Sir Fred Goodwin's £700,000-a-year pension have suffered a blow amid fresh claims that the deal was "wholly legally binding"... more
TODAY parents learn if their children have a place at their first-choice school. Tens of thousands of London schoolchildren - about one in three - will be disappointed... more
Alistair Darling has admitted to "tensions" between him and Gordon Brown amid signs of a Cabinet rift over whether the Prime Minister should apologise for the economic crisis... more
City Minister Lord Myners was accused of "bumbling incompetence" after it emerged that he had failed to question the massive pension awarded to disgraced banker Sir Fred Goodwin... more
The fuss about Nick Macpherson, permanent secretary to the Treasury, getting a gong when it's far too early to say if the banking bailout has been a success, is manufactured nonsense... more
Barclays' £7 billion bailout, mainly from Middle Eastern investors, looks increasingly likely to go ahead even as the bank's existing shareholders vent their frustration at the terms of the deal... more
Chancellor Alistair Darling came under fire for his handling of the financial crisis as he unveiled a government-owned company to oversee the £37billion bank bail-out plan... more
It was when the takeaway curry arrived at the Treasury at 10pm that Britain's leading bankers first realised it was going to be a very long night... more
Profile: The BBC's business editor Robert Peston landed blockbuster scoops with the HBOS takeover and Northern Rock but his rivals don't always take kindly to his style... more
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group has been told by the Government it is winning the race for Northern Rock - but warned it must improve its offer or the bank will be nationalised... more
Tonight:
3°c
