Mandelson attacks Barclays chief

[Green Mango]

Electoral gain is why.

I say this as a concerned citizen who really, really wants to be a Labour supporter

Well for me the plus side of Labour is some of the money they have spent hasn't all been wasted. I spent 2 days in the Royal Derby hospital emergency ward being dosed up with antibiotics. I have to say that the hospital was basicly new and most of the time I had the two bed ward to myself apart from when the alcoholics were in.

Unfortunately I believe the NHS will not escape the cuts after the election.

The downside is basicly everything else. They have made a real mess of the economy and will take years/decades to sort out and as Gordon Brown is so fond of saying he will have his wasted generation.

[fullyautomatix]

None of the banks would have survived fully intact had it not been for government intervention.

Barclay's was just further down the chain of dominoes (with NR, B&B, RBS, HBOS at the front).

In fact Barclays did get bailed out - just not by taxpayers, but by foreign investors who now own a substantial chunk.

That said - Barclays were clearly more prudent than most, so I agree that Mandleson's attack is unjustified. But then, it's all just electioneering.

Barclarys did not get bailed out, they just managed to get extra investment by selling a stake in the company. It seems to have helped them tide over any crisis they had. Are you saying any kind of rights issue is a sign of getting bailed out ?

[fullyautomatix]

Apart from anything else, he risks having this tactic rebound on Labour.

All the Tories need do is point out how much Tony Blair has made (£20 million plus?) swanning around the lecture circuit, doing little substantial (so it appears to Joe Public) since leaving office.

Good point about Blair. Why isnt anybody questioning his shameless money making exercises? I have never seen a former head of state acting so greedy and try and make money in the way he has been.

[vetran]

Bought on the never never

Mango - that isn't an NHS hospital its owned by Skanska & others when we fall behind on the payments the repo man will be round.

http://www.skanska.com/en/Projects/D...oject/?pid=114

Oh and I have heard some PFI providers can charge what they like for changing a light bulb - Kerching.

[vetran]

Mandelson, moral high ground

[TykeMerc]

Mandelson, moral high ground

Fair point.

It was him that got sacked twice (at least) from the cabinet for dodgy dealings then returned to politics as an unelected appointee to the House of Lords wasn't it?

[Green Mango]

Mango - that isn't an NHS hospital its owned by Skanska & others when we fall behind on the payments the repo man will be round.

http://www.skanska.com/en/Projects/D...oject/?pid=114

Oh and I have heard some PFI providers can charge what they like for changing a light bulb - Kerching.

Vetran,

I appreciate what you say. These PFI schemes are supposedly too expensive and the danger is that central government will have to bail them out.