Lord Myners

Some weird ritual?
Gordon Brown, or big clunking fist as he was known in the good old days, seems keen to pick a fight to prevent Sir Fred Goodwin getting his full pension. The suggestion is that this matter could go to law to be resolved. In Brown versus Goodwin it could be Brown wins, or loses and then there is an appeal. Or it could be that common sense prevails and Brown admits defeat now and drops the case. It's probably this latter option that sensible civil servants will be hoping that Brown adopts.

As suggested in another post Brown is so unpopular that it would not be beyond belief that the man in the pub, or outside it having a fag, would support Goodwin. Not for any other reason than spite; Brown has that effect on people! But in a court of law things are done differently, only the evidence matters. And the evidence shows that on behalf of Brown, Lord Myners (see right), agreed to the Goodwin pension. There are always two parties to a contract, it is a joint responsibility and it is binding. Only a fool would think otherwise. So how does Brown and his team think they can win? It's doubtful whether Brown's old neighbours, the Blair's, each with legal training, would have got into this mess. So, should the headlines read 'Brown wins case', there will not be universal celebrations.

The flip side to this is Brown loses the case.