Actually, Vince was far from celebratory on this morning’s Marr Show when discussing the bank-government talks which concluded last week. He was asked whether he agreed with his friend Lord Oakeshott, who had claimed the Treasury “couldn’t negotiate its way out of a paper bag“. The answer was far from a ringing endorsement of the deal*, which left most banks free to pay whatever bonuses they like to their top traders:
and in our friendly discussions, I mean what I’ve suggested is that the glass is half full rather than half empty, and that some of the most important things in the discussions on the banks this week took place outside the Merlin Agreement
This refusal to trot out the full coalition line (“the glass is full”) is rather endearing but it does reinforce the impression that Vince is semi-detached from government, especially since the Telegraph’s pre-Christmas sting. His comments will also go down rather badly within the Treasury, for obvious reasons.
* The Observer today dismisses the deal as “paltry“.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey