Evil Knievil: The consequences of politicians’ lies

Truth emerges with time and not at the behest of authority. However, in the matter of Priti Patel, we can be confident that she is a strong-willed liar – no doubt taking instructions from No 10. Leaving aside the longer term consequences for the morale of the staff of the Home Office (where Sir Philip Rutnam wisely elected very publicly to issue a statement describing his resignation so to ensure that his version of events could not be trumped by a further stream of lies from Ms Patel) the beginning of the denouement of Bosh Johnson has started. This liar reckons he can get away with anything by lying. But, gradually, the electorate will see through him.

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The Barclays Four have all been cleared (God only knows what the legal bills, all paid by Barclays, will come to. We are talking about many millions of pounds). The Times declares that the defect in the SFO’s case was that it depended upon evidence from the Qataris which was never going to be forthcoming. If so, the only purpose behind this enquiry and the subsequent prosecutions can have been some sort of revenge. The trouble is that revenge is a dish best eaten cold and the SFO’s chumps never allowed cooling to occur.

HM Treasury failed under Gordon Brown to inhibit the lunatic growth of credit on the run up to 2008. One reason was that Brown left supervision of the banks to the FCA, which is broadly similar to leaving a flock of sheep to control the jaws of wolves and affecting surprise when the sheep get eaten. The other reason was that Brown’s achieving time as prime minister depended upon his being rampantly irresponsible. The consequences are still with us.

Be it noted that Barclays never drew upon Treasury cash to survive whereas, with the notable exception of HSBC, all the others did. Typically, jurors are not stupid: they draw sensible conclusions.

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Finally, we have not yet hit the bottom of this market – not by a long chalk.