ALISTAIR DARLING: BACK FROM THE BRINK
1,000 Days of the World Financial Crisis; Alistair Darling in Conversation with former Energy Minister the Rt Hon. Brian Wilson
For most of us, the dealings of the money markets are uncanny, mysterious and ‘beyond our ken’. In that the post of Chancellor is about predicting, pre-empting and shaping the economic future, the gift of Second Sight might reasonably be expected to be in the person specification. You don’t need to have an interest in politics to want to attend this event. That you (still) have a bank account should be enough.
Alasdair Darling
Alistair Darling is the MP for Edinburgh South West. He has strong connections with the Isle of Lewis. Initially appointed as chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1997, he became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 1998 and Secretary of State for Scotland in 2003. He was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry before Gordon Brown promoted him to Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2007.
A national publishing event, his book Back from the Brink tells the gripping story of 1,000 days of crisis as all over the world financial institutions thought ‘too big to fail’ fell prey to the toxic US sub-prime mortgage market. As Chancellor he sanctioned £37bn bail-outs of RBS and HBoS minutes before their cash machines would have ceased to function; at the 11th hour he prevented Barclay’s acquiring Lehman Brothers and importing America’s economic cancer; he used controversial legislation to stop Icelandic banks from withdrawing funds from the UK. From all night meetings at the White House to confrontations with the titans of international banking and fractious relations with Gordon Brown, he puts the reader in the rooms where the destinies of millions weighed on the shoulders of a few.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/