Gordon Brown finally admits his guilt

[Gonzo]

Gordon Brown admits big mistake over banking crisis

Finally.

One of the first things that he did was to dismantle the previous regulatory structure of the Financial Industry and replace it with a bureaucratic box-ticking approach.

He disliked the self-regulatory approach that used to be in place thinking that the bankers were all too easy on themselves.

I was never a fan of the FSA and have long thought that the bankers themselves were best placed to understand where the tulip would hit the fan and by setting up the FSA he took the responsibility for ensuring that it didn't away from them so that they could do whatever they wanted.

[TimberWolf]

On last week's 'This Week' Lembit Öpik said something interesting along the lines that the Tories would have deregulated the banks more than Labour, had they been in power, to which Portillo appeared to agree and added that Labour had not made enough capital out of this viewpoint.

[Gonzo]

On last week's 'This Week' Lembit Öpik said something interesting along the lines that the Tories would have deregulated the banks more than Labour, had they been in power, to which Portillo appeared to agree and added that Labour had not made enough capital out of this viewpoint.

My view is that when they were responsible for themselves then they could reign themselves in because they knew what damage they could cause.

When the regulation was transferred to the FSA then that absolved them of any responsibility for themselves. So long as they acted within the rules they could do whatever they wanted. Look where that got us.