Up to his old tricks, that’s where. The papers are full of stories of how he is using the Olympics to further his designs on the Conservative leadership, just as the great international banking-regulatory crisis – conspiracy or no – threatens the City he sometimes claims to defend and promote. All hands should be on deck to repel boarders, else we may find that during our rose-tinted Olympic revels Johnny Foreigner has been purposefully neutering our financial pre-eminence.
We have fingered Osborne as being asleep on watch, a capital offence, and we must diskard him utterly. Boris, a classicist, doubtless sees himself as Julius Caesar in Gaul, with dreams of crossing the Rubicon in due course. He needs to recall that victories in vital battles are what is needed, not self-indulgent grandstanding.
The track record of our own regulators gives little grounds for optimism they can do what is needful, which is a sight more than a ‘Libor overhaul‘, or token prosecution of a couple of small fry. (“Supervision of Libor could be handled by a ‘college of supervisors’ from across the world with Britain in the chair, Wheatley said.” Did he, indeed ? And why does he think we’ll be given the chair, eh ?)
No, it is the politicians that must act, working night and day to restore the situation, as we’ve prescribed before. It should be Osborne. It could in theory be Cable. Clearly, neither is equal to the task. Boris, you have no formal powers in this matter but you have the pulpit. If you are genuinely up for the Top Job, here’s a battle for you.