Virgin Money snaps up Northern Rock on second attempt at huge discount

I've written about Northern Rock quite a few times since they were brought down by Saint Robert of Peston in 2007 and looking back at what I wrote and what others said is quite interesting.

When Saint Robert of Peston whipped up a frenzy of consumer panic with his misleading reports on Northern Rock's request for an emergency credit line from the Bank of England (misrepresenting it as a loan rather than the offer of a loan if they needed it) he caused a run on the bank which deprived it of its working capital. The inevitable happened of course and the Northern Rock ran out of cash and was nationalised.

Northern Rock has now been sold to Virgin Money at a minimum loss of £400m but possibly as much as £653m on the amount the UK Treasury spent nationalising the bank.  Those of you who have taken an interest in the Northern Rock affair and with good memories for these things might be getting a touch of déja vu at the mention of Virgin Money and Northern Rock in the same sentence because Richard Branson tried to take over Northern Rock before it was nationalised and on much better terms for UK plc than what has just been agreed less than a fortnight after Saint Robert of Peston embarked on his career-making hatchet job on the bank.

The original Virgin Money offer was to buy Northern Rock's entire operation, pay back £11bn of the £25bn Bank of England emergency loan that Northern Rock was forced to take immediately with the balance to be paid within 3 years.  The UK Treasury hadn't spent any money nationalising the bank so the taxpayer's exposure to Northern Rock would have been repaid within 3 years, Northern Rock's operations would have remained intact, Northern Rock's investors would have had a chance of getting a return on some of their investments and the ripples that Northern Rock's collapse and nationalisation sent through the banking sector could have been avoided.  The UK Treasury instead chose to nationalist the bank, costing the taxpayer billions and contributing to the virtual collapse of the UK banking sector.

Whilst I hold Saint Robert of Peston significantly responsible for the collapse of Northern Rock, some of the blame has to fall on the EU because Saint Robert wouldn't have found out about the credit line if it wasn't for the EU Monetary Abuse Directive (MAD) that required the Bank of England to publicise the fact that it had been offered.  The previous governor of the Bank of England, Eddie George, said at the time that if he was still governor when the EU MAD was brought in he would have resigned over it.

Ed the Millibeast has had a pop at George Osbourne about him selling the Northern Rock off at such a loss for no apparent reason but it turns out that he had no choice because the last Chancellor, Alistair McDarling, had to agree to sell off Northern Rock within 3 years to get permission from the EU to nationalise the bank.  And which government department did Ed the Millibeast work in at the time of the Northern Rock nationalisation?  Erm, that would be the Treasury - he was a minister in the Treasury when his boss agreed to the 3 year restriction on the nationalisation!

Richard Branson's purchase of Northern Rock is only for the "good bank" - the "bad bank" was merged with Bradford & Bingley which was also nationalised.  The "bad bank" is still slowly paying back the billions of pounds it owes the taxpayer.  What happened to the Bank of England loan is anyone's guess.  Northern Rock has cost the taxpayer a lot of money - a lot more than necessary so far and the Virgin Money takeover will cost hundreds of millions more.  The mismanagement of the economy and the banking crisis is nothing short of criminal.

The whole Northern Rock saga started with gross incompetence and unnecessary wasting of taxpayers money and it's perhaps a fitting end for the Northern Rock brand that it will finish with a loss-making sale to the bank that tried to buy it before it cost the taxpayer billions of pounds and precipitated the near collapse of the banking sector and at a snip of the price offered in 2007.

Come the revolution there will be a special part of the wall marked out for Saint Robert of Peston, Alistair Darling and all the other criminally incompetent and irresponsible idiots that have cost us so dearly.

Cross-posted from: Wonko's World

Ex-MPs: how Britain was conned into joining the 'Common Market'

Thanks to James Goldsmith, we were spared the financial death throes that Eurozone members such as Ireland are now experiencing. We can only hope that the Euro is shredded by the markets, forcing deadly fissures to appear in the EU façade and 'community'.

If Ireland takes IMF cash, it will largely be under the thumb of Britain - the country whose embrace it could not wait to escape as it rushed to the bosom of the EU.

If Ireland takes Merkel's (expropriation) of EU cash, then it can expect to lose its sovereignty to the EU and to be forced to raise its corporation tax,  thereby reducing its competitiveness.

If Ireland does a deal with Britain, it will be even more firmly yoked to Britain than it ever was - this time, via the serfdom which accompanies unpayable debt.

What a a fine mess they've made. If only they'd listened to us and not signed that blasted treaty.

Ah. But the politicos were following a carefully crafted plan - and script. Just as Cameron and Hague are doing today, while they try to convince us of the opposite.

In 2008, before the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, Eric Deakins, MP for Walthamstow West 1970-74, MP for Walthamstow 1974-87, and junior minister for Trade (1974-76) and the DHSS (1976-79) in Labour governments under Wilson and Callaghan respectively, witnessed and have spoken out against the dishonesty exhibited by a succession of leaders in committing Britain to the European Project.

Described are the aims of the Treaty of Rome, and how in subsequent years the process of integration into a European political entity has gradually been forced through, against the wishes and without the knowledge of the majority of British people.

Little by little, we are being roped in by the EU, aided and abetted by their new best friends, Cameron and Hague, who know a thing or two about twisting language to sound like the truth, so to disguise a cleverly crafted lie.

If we do not make a stand, Britain will be in the Euro one day - or in an incarnation of it, the end game being complete political union under an unelected body of totalitarian technocrats, who will transform Britain into an ex-nation of serfs. Except for the politicos, of course, who will be rewarded handsomely.

The copyright of the video below is held by the Campaign for an Independent Britain.



Ht tip: UKIPWebmaster

Ex-Labour MPs Nigel Spearing and Eric Deakins tell of how the British people were duped. They were both Members of UK Parliament at the time of Britain's entry into the 'Common Market' and witnessed how it was pulled off.(7-video autoplay).



Hat tip: Free Britain Blog

Cross-posted

ConDem's agree to EU scrutiny of UK budget

Three months ago to the day, EU insists on vetting UK budget before parliament ...

Mr Cameron will further set the tone of the relationship today when he tells the former Belgian Prime Minister that Britain will refuse to send its Budget plans to Brussels before being announced in Parliament.

- The Times, 7th June 2010

EU finance ministers have moved closer to agreeing to allow other governments to study their annual budgets before they are seen by national parliaments.

The UK government said it would reject this plan, but EU officials said a compromise had been worked out.

- BBC, 8th June 2010

The budget will be presented to Parliament first. There is no question of anyone other than MPs seeing it first. Once the Chancellor has presented it to Parliament, it is of course publicly available.

- Mark Hoban MP, Financial Secretary, HM Treasury, 8th June 2010

Starting next year, the 27 European Union members will have to submit their proposed budgets to the EU in advance, so that Brussels can scrutinize their plans before they take effect.

- Deutsche Welle, 7th September 2010

Just to clarify: the EU, which hasn't had its own budget signed off for 13 years in a row by its own internal auditors, will scrutinise and revise the budgets of national governments.

Sadly, the previous Liebour government repealed the death penalty for Treason.  You can read the full story on how the deceitful ConDem coalition have agreed to illegally submit the UK budget to the European Empire before submitting it to Parliament here.