‘Documents seen by the BBC on Monday indicate ministers in the last Labour government held discussions with banks about policies which would allow the Libor rate to fall.
Speculation about how much the government of the day knew prompted a statement on Tuesday evening from former Labour minister Baroness Vadera of Holland Park.
She said she “has no recollection of speaking to Paul Tucker or anyone else at the Bank of England about the price setting of Libor”.’
I listened to Campbell and Derbyshire this morning…and of course the news bulletins….but don’t recall any mention of the fact that the Labour Government may have given Barclays the nod to manipulate the Libor.
I think Peston was onto it on Monday…but a deathly silence seemed to descend upon 5Live at least.
This has the potential to be THE story….Miliband has been scurrying around demanding criminal procedures against Barclays and a full-on inquiry…..if the allegations are true Miliband and Labour should be toast…if only for his denial of truth and attempt to deceive everyone with highly opportunistic political statements.
They may well have mentioned it but the fact that I did not notice would say a lot….that it was downplayed and essentially ignored.
A lack of facts didn’t stop the BBC giving Miliband endless airtime to make his accusations and presumptious demands.
The BBC should now be nailing Miliband to the floor with questions. Maybe Balls suspects the guns are going to be turning on them…I believe he is denying all knowledge..’I was education minister at the time!’
However if so, perhaps he could explain why the exam boards were rigging the education system and destroying a generation’s life chances…to put it in BBC talk.
And why Miliband as Environment minister saddled British industry with a target to cut CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050…a ruinous demand that no other country was stupid enough to implement.
Hopefully tomorrow in PMQs Cameron will wipe the floor with Miliband and the BBC will be forced to open that can of worms.
Well I am full of expectation………………………But I know I am going to be disappointed.
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Unfortunately Cameron hasn’t the balls to take the attack to Balls and Miliband Jnr
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Exactly. Labour would be ruthless if the situation were reversed.
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But why are the Conservatives, with the honourable exception of Michael Gove, such cowards?
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Because they’re not Conservatives, but gutless, effete, clueless, careerist poseurs, like Jeremy Hunt, who thinks that everything at the BBC is fine & dandy. Until the Tory party regains its hard, abrasive edge, it’s dead in the water – a useless hulk. At the moment it doesn’t have a backbone, it has a wishbone. Trembling fingers crossed. If a real Tory party, not led by Chameleon, had gone into the 2010 Election with genuine right-of-centre policies we might well be much further down the road of reconstruction after The School of Frankfurt’s 13 year Reign of Terror.
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Reporting the following is off limits to BBC-NUJ-Labour:
“Civil servants who work for unions cost £36m a year”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9373111/Civil-servants-who-work-for-unions-cost-36m-a-year.html
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And yet, if you should read the BBC’s ‘news’ headlines in the early hours of Wednesday morning, you could be forgiven for thinking that this latest scandal had nothing whatsoever to do with Labour.
It’s all down to ‘evil bankers’ and ‘the government’.
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Love all the pic’s…..lol…..Ace!
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I am certain that the BBC newsroom and website keyboards are currently all missing the a, b, l, o, r and u keys.
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‘She said she “has no recollection of speaking to Paul Tucker or anyone else at the Bank of England about the price setting of Libor”.’
Any of Nick Robinson’s famous analysis or input from his bevvy of sources who say on this claim as yet?
Or, in this case, is she a power whose account is good enough for the BBC?
Be interesting to see if there any comments enabled on his blogs for a while, and if there are how long they last before another ‘colleague’ ‘inadvertently’ deletes them if off narrative.
Currently things to have gone broadcast only, with a certain degree of ‘selectivity’ on what breaking news gets broken.
This trust thing is truly expected to be at a unique level.
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BARCLAYS.
‘Daily Mail’ gives Labour Party an appropriate reference here:
“Revenge of a fallen titan: Ousted Barclays boss makes damning claims Bank of England and Labour ministers were involved in rigging interest rates.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168449/Bob-Diamond-resignation-Ousted-Barclays-boss-makes-damning-claims-Bank-England-Labour-ministers-involved-rigging-rates.html#ixzz1zdVSFj18
BBC-NUJ doesn’t:-
“Barclays ex-boss Bob Diamond faces MPs’ questioning”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18695191
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‘Daily Express’:
“LABOUR UNDER SPOTLIGHT AS BARCLAYS CLAIMS ‘BANK OF ENGLAND TOLD US TO LOWER RATES’ ”
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/330622/Labour-under-spotlight-as-Barclays-claims-Bank-of-England-told-us-to-lower-rates-
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But NOT under the BBC spotlight !!!!
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Newsnight’s focus seems to have been oddly scattered, again, given the focus of a top story. But it was mentioned…
@BBCNewsnight“I have to say I would find that hard to believe” Chuka Umunna asked “is it concievable Labour ministers would encourage Libor misreporting?’
So that is hardly a resounding ‘no’ then? One presumes he was then subjected to the usual Chloe-esque barrage to probe that vague waffle further? With massive twitter support and all media estate blasting of the evisceration of the bright young things they happen to approve of?
Also odd that all BBC political and editor blogs have all gone ‘broadcast only’ again.
By experience guessing until this one blows over we’ll be treated to a higher % of sports or arts stories on BBC political ‘news’ programmes.
Nice to control the edit suite. Unique, even.
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“Time for an economic Nuremberg for the last Labour government”
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1371/time_for_an_economic_nuremberg_for_the_last_labour_government
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on R4 this morning I caught the tail end of the main discussion. Humphries was basically suggesting that artificially lowering the rate of interest was potentially a good thing. That definitely wouldn’t have been the case if it was a Conservative government!
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It took Labour ex-minister Lord Myners to inject some balance into the Today coverage of the Barclays/LIBOR drama. Robinson warned us all – and thus framed the discussion accordingly – that this whole hoohah about possible BoE and Labour ministerial interference in the LIBOR-setting process is a product of the Conservatives seeking to damage Labour (“make no mistake about this” in Robinson’s words).
Myners meanwhile remarked that there was no point in speculating about what Diamond would say later today about BoE/government interference since all we had to do was wait a couple of hours (which is as good a damning of the BBC “news in the future” habit as I’ve heard). He also stated – contrary to the steering of the interview by Humphrys – that there should not be an attempt to conflate (at least) three issues: the rigging of LIBOR on behalf of some Barclays traders, the possible involvement of the BoE’s Tucker in the general matter of the LIBOR setting and the efforts by Barclays to save itself in 2008. He also stressed that, whatever the reason, there was no excuse for lies and deceit in this or anything else – even to save Barclays.
Robinson also endeavoured to get Balls off the hook of involvement by telling us that Balls was not at the Treasury in 2008 (although he was there and throwing his considerable weight about until mid-2007 – a point not stressed by Robinson). Blimey, Robinson was being more Labour than Milliband – certainly more Labour than Myners. Thank God there was somebody in the studio (Myners) who was willing to take a slightly less partisan view of the situation than the Today team.
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‘Robinson warned us all – and thus framed the discussion accordingly – that this whole hoohah about possible BoE and Labour ministerial interference in the LIBOR-setting process is a product of the Conservatives seeking to damage Labour’
By sheer coincidence, pretty much the exact same line being trotted out by some ecky-thump Labour committee MP on SKy not long ago.
Labour must have footage of Robinson in bed with a goat, or something. He’s either so in the tank it’s embarrassing, or when called out on it (if comments enabled) his blogs get wiped. Positively Goebellian.
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John B
On Tuesday night the libor story was akin to eating babies for breakfast but by Wednesday morning on Today it has been transformed and was probably in the public good all along and seems to have been responsible for saving Barclay’s from a bail out. They even managed to wheel out a couple of experts to discuss(endorse) this view. Fast work boys! Great what a link though the Bank of England to labour can produce!
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