Yes you’re correct about the Conservative Party Competition Report-it did anticipate some of the oversight failures we have now seen.(Redwood was just a Panel Member-not the Author incidentally)

In my opinion-having only recently re-read that Report, Harman quoted it-not Osborne. The short passage she read out is the totality of the text in that report on Mortgages.

Two things occurred to me:-

First the Report recommended de-regulation because the “risk is borne by the lender”. That assessment now seems very wide of the mark. Failed Borrowers have suffered-as have taxpayers-indeed the global economy.
But perhaps Redwood et al could not have foreseen the tidal wave of cheap credit.Supervision should have seen it & stopped it.

Second-Alan Duncan denied knowledge of the passage quoted by Harman. Either that was a lie from someone who must have been familiar with a key Party document-or he wasn’t aware of it. Either way I was very unimpressed-and a bit worried.

I agree absolutely with the you & the Next CEO on the need for Supervision rather than more Regulation.

An intelligent & informed “feel” for what is going on based on deep contact…rather than ticking boxes.

Con: 44% (-2)
Lab: 24% (-3)
LD : 20% (+4)

So the conferences are already shaking up the picture.

It depends on what deregulation; certainly, Tories (including a senior banker at Coutt’s) I know have been predicting a exacerbation of any downturn for years, based upon Labour’s reliance on borrowing and hidden borrowing (PFI) with concomitant expansion of personal borrowing.

“But it’s all the Tories (and their partners worldwide) economic free market plans which is causing the collapse of capitalism….”

Jack, one could quibble about what is and is not a Tory, but I don’t think that Greenspanism/Brownism is.
Indeed, I see blatant manipulation of the markets via hidden borrowing and continuing politicised control of the interest rates.

Apparently the “greed of the short-sellers” is counter-balanced by “equally voracious” bargain-hunters, and this co-existence of, erm, “voracity” prevents shares from falling below fair value “for any significant length of time.”

I wonder how many HBOS shareholders he ran that past before posting his copy?