Due to my personal interest in the origin of the SLS, I had that hoped that Alistair Darling would address the matter of the origin of the SLS and the reasons for the disagreement with Mervyn King regarding 'whose scheme it was'. Strangely enough, Alistair discusses the recapitalisation plan for the banks that was implemented from September 2008 and he says:
"In the aftermath of this crisis there have been many who have claimed authorship of what proved to be a highly successful plan. Gordon and I had earlier discussed the idea of forcing banks to raise capital, and of us providing it if necessary. He was immediately open to the idea and he did tell me, when I outlined it to him, that he and his advisors had been thinking along similar lines. It really doesn't matter who thought of the scheme first. What matters is that it worked. What I know for certain is that the Treasury, the Bank and the FSA started this work on 26 September, under my instruction."
Alistair Darling, Back From The Brink, pg 142, 2011, with acknowledgements to Alistair Darling
In regard to the Special Liquidity Scheme, it does matter who claimed authorship because Mervyn King claimed copyright to the idea of exchanging mortgage collateral for Treasury bonds and the HM Treasury have declared in their response to my FOI request (2010) that they received the proposal from the Bank of England in "mid-March", a week before I sent in my suggestion. There was also a public disagreement between the HM Treasury and Bank of England regarding 'whose scheme it was'.
Incredibly, although there is much in the public domain regarding the origin and launch of the SLS, Alistair tells us:
"While I was away on the other side of the world, I was in constant touch with the Treasury and with Gordon. We had, up until my departure, been working closely with Mervyn and his colleagues at the Bank of England to address the problem that banks were having in obtaining enough funds to keep going. The result was the implementation of the 'special liquidity scheme'...
I had worked on this for several months and put a great deal of effort into persuading the Bank to agree to it-technical though it may be, it was one of the most successful things we did...It was a very good scheme and I was proud of it. That it was announced when I was on the other side of the world was a bit odd."
Alistair Darling, Back From The Brink, 2011, pg 94, with acknowledgements to Alistair Darling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JukI3rcnhXI
"In the aftermath of this crisis there have been many who have claimed authorship of what proved to be a highly successful plan. Gordon and I had earlier discussed the idea of forcing banks to raise capital, and of us providing it if necessary. He was immediately open to the idea and he did tell me, when I outlined it to him, that he and his advisors had been thinking along similar lines. It really doesn't matter who thought of the scheme first. What matters is that it worked. What I know for certain is that the Treasury, the Bank and the FSA started this work on 26 September, under my instruction."
Alistair Darling, Back From The Brink, pg 142, 2011, with acknowledgements to Alistair Darling
In regard to the Special Liquidity Scheme, it does matter who claimed authorship because Mervyn King claimed copyright to the idea of exchanging mortgage collateral for Treasury bonds and the HM Treasury have declared in their response to my FOI request (2010) that they received the proposal from the Bank of England in "mid-March", a week before I sent in my suggestion. There was also a public disagreement between the HM Treasury and Bank of England regarding 'whose scheme it was'.
Incredibly, although there is much in the public domain regarding the origin and launch of the SLS, Alistair tells us:
"While I was away on the other side of the world, I was in constant touch with the Treasury and with Gordon. We had, up until my departure, been working closely with Mervyn and his colleagues at the Bank of England to address the problem that banks were having in obtaining enough funds to keep going. The result was the implementation of the 'special liquidity scheme'...
I had worked on this for several months and put a great deal of effort into persuading the Bank to agree to it-technical though it may be, it was one of the most successful things we did...It was a very good scheme and I was proud of it. That it was announced when I was on the other side of the world was a bit odd."
Alistair Darling, Back From The Brink, 2011, pg 94, with acknowledgements to Alistair Darling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JukI3rcnhXI
