Is Gordon Brown holed below the waterline?
Gordon Brown is this evening fighting for his political future after the revelation that Sir James Crosby, a man who Gordon Brown promoted to the position of deputy chairman of the FSA and installed as one of his close circle of economic advisers, may have fired a "whistleblower" during his time at HBOS when the employee suggested the bank was growing too quickly. Even though Sir James has taken swift action and resigned his position of the FSA there are now serious question marks over the actions of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.
While the government is looking to backtrack by suggesting that Sir James Crosby was not an integral part of the closed circle of economic advisers to the government, comments and evidence in the past would suggest this is not correct. In a rather bizarre twist of fate, Gordon Brown may have put the UK banking sector rescue packages in the hands of the man who four years ago could have inadvertently taken action which did not assist the collapse of the UK economy last year.
While the allegations against Sir James Crosby are unproven, it is rather strange that he has decided to resign his position with the FSA and the government's inner circle. There is now intense speculation as to who will take the place of Sir James Crosby with Gordon Brown set to make a "safe" appointment in due course.
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