Gordon Brown has much to answer for, but he was not Blair. Politicians’ autobiographies can be expected to comprise a litany of excuses. I’ve just read his My Life, Our Times, in which he seems surprised that he could not accomplish more of what – I think – he genuinely wanted to accomplish. I’m with Ralph Miliband in believing that there is no parliamentary route to socialism, or indeed even to the amelioration of capitalism that Brown hankered after.
There is a passage in the book containing statistics that rightly appalled and appals Brown. It refers to the global financial crisis of 2008-9. Here it is:
‘Throughout the crisis I had felt that we were dealing with more than a financial failure: this was the fallout from years of greed. Andrew Haldane, who would later become the chief economist of the Bank of England, has calculated that if dividend payments had been reduced by a third during the period 2000-7 then £20 billion of extra capital would have been available to the banks. If the banks had restricted dividends in years when they made annual losses, £15 billion more would have been available. And if they had paid themselves just one-tenth less, then another £50 billion could have been used to bolster the banks’ positions. As he puts it: ‘Three modest changes in payout behaviour would have generated more capital than was supplied by the UK government during the crisis’’ (italics added).
Just ponder on this obscene profiteering: bankers dangerously running down banks’ reserves to satisfy their snouts in the trough.
Nor has anything changed. As we in the UK approach a ‘cost of living crisis’, London-headquartered HSBC has just announced a boost for its banker bonus pool to £2.6 billion, justifying it by reference to its strong financial performance. Moreover, it is apparently ‘critical for our long-term performance that we continue to attract and retain the talent necessary to deliver our strategic priorities.’ Right! Heard that before. The boost to bonuses has come as the bank said it paid 451 of its bankers £832,000 or more last year, marking a 40% increase on the number of staff with such payouts. HSBC chief executive Noel Quin was paid £4.9 million, while another of HSBC’s bankers was paid double that.
Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 until he took over as Prime Minister. He did nothing about the greed he condemned. Or, more likely, he judged could do nothing, that is, without compromising New Labour’s electoral chances. Either way, Miliband’s thesis is fortified.
Thatcher opened the door to unconfined greed and it has since remained open. New Labour did nothing significant to close it. This is justification enough for transformatory change.