I didn't know, nobody knew, it is an unpredicted unprecidented global crisis that started in the USA

I didn't know, nobody knew, it is an unpredicted unprecidented global crisis that started in the USA - I think that is a fair précis of Gordon Brown's position re the current economic storm. We all know his line is bullshit, but aided by the BBC he continues to peddle it.

Today news breaks that may cause Gordon Brown and the BBC some problems if they try to continue to push this "narrative". The FT reports:

"Gordon Brown failed to act on Treasury warnings in 2004 that the government was woefully unprepared to handle the collapse of a financial institution, says a highly critical official report.

An inquiry by the National Audit Office, published on Friday, finds that Treasury officials identified serious flaws in the “tripartite” regulatory structure created by Mr Brown but decided it was not “a priority” to fix the problems.

Mr Brown, who was chancellor at the time, was on Thursday night facing calls to explain the Treasury’s inaction. Under the tripartite system, regulation of Britain’s financial institutions was divided between the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England."

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

The FT report also points out the emerging split between Gordon Brown's puppet Chancellor and Gordon Brown. It seems that Alistair Darling has finally "grown a pair":

"Alistair Darling, chancellor, on Thursday distanced himself from the “light-touch” regulatory system once lauded by Mr Brown as he endorsed calls this week by Lord Turner, FSA chairman, for a more “intrusive” bank supervisory regime. “There were people 10 years ago or more recently arguing for more deregulation and a lighter touch but I was not one of them,” Mr Darling told the Commons Treasury committee."

The report also draws a line from the Treasury that may be worth some checking (my emphasis):

"After contingency planning exercises in 2004, the report says the Treasury was “aware of potential shortcomings” in its arrangement for dealing with struggling financial institutions.

The Treasury denies being ill-prepared and insists it had begun a complex and difficult process of reform. A spokesman said the report found the Treasury “was right to take the decisions it did”. "

Perhaps the Treasury could supply some details of this "complex and difficult process of reform" that had begun in 2004.