Bumbling Brown and his lame dog Chancellor Alistair Darling, whose speed in joint decision making matches that of a geriatric tortoise, have been sold a pup if they really believe that Northern Rock has been nationalised.

The resultant taxpayers’ exposure to the beleaguered bank has doubled since the beginning of the year and now stands at around £110 billion, which is more than the NHS costs us. Yet the government is keeping remarkably quiet over the fact that all the most profitable aspects of Northern Rock’s business have already been earmarked for the US private equity group JC Flowers and hedge fund Cerebus.

The new executive chairman, Ron Sandler, is well experienced in working with global financial companies. Earning £90,000 a month, Zimbabwe-born Mr Sandler holds a German passport and therefore as a non-domicile does not have to pay any income tax. Nor does his new financial controller, Canadian-born Ann Godbehere who pays her tax in Switzerland. And to underline the fact that it looks as if Northern Rock has been ‘inter-nationalised’ rather than nationalised, as we go to press it looks as if the investment bank NN Rothschild has been appointed to advise Mr Sandler.

The pioneers of the old Labour Party must be spinning in their graves.

One final thought. It is incredible that, when the Government could have invested a few million in Longbridge and kept thousands of car workers jobs, it is now squandering untold billions of our money to put an estimated 2,000 Northern Rock employees out of work.