The Bank of England told Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, that only he could support a secret takeover approach that might have saved Northern Rock, days before the run on the mortgage lender, it emerged last night, The Times reports.
Mervyn King, the Bank’s Governor, has shed light on the tentative approach for Northern Rock from Lloyds TSB. The bid broke down in early September after Lloyds asked for a £30bn Bank loan at competitive rates as part of the deal. In an interview to be broadcast tonight on BBC Radio 4’s File on 4, Mr King said: “I said to the Chancellor: ‘Well look, this is not something which a central bank can do, they don’t normally fund takeovers by one company for another, let alone to the tune of £30bn, which is rather a large amount of money’.” “So I said: ‘This is a matter for government, but you...
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