Sir Fred Goodwin was PM's guest at Chequers

Published on Thursday 16 July 2009 22:02

FOR months he was the most reviled man in the country, blamed for the banking collapse, but as elusive as Lord Lucan.

Now it has emerged that, as his world collapsed around him, Sir Fred Goodwin, the man who virtually destroyed Royal Bank of Scotland, was enjoying the Prime Minister's hospitality at Chequers.

Sir Fred, who was entertained at taxpayers' expense, was one of a number of bankers invited to the Prime Minister's country retreat in Buckinghamshire. Others entertained between April 2008 and March 2009 were Lloyds TSB's then chairman Sir Victor Blank and chief executive Eric Daniels and RBS's new chief executive, Stephen Hester.

Mr Brown was said to have "stitched up" with Sir Victor Lloyds' controversial takeover of HBOS. Sir Victor was later ousted by Lloyds shareholders furious that the bank's share price had plummeted as a result of taking on HBOS's massive debts.

SNP MP Stewart Hosie said: "Instead of lavishing hospitality, the Prime Minister should have been asking Sir Fred some tough questions. As billions of pounds is poured into RBS, the true cost of this dinner may never be known."

Downing Street last night released the annual hospitality list of guests invited to Chequers, but refused to reveal the date of any of the visits. RBS came to the verge of collapse in October 2008 as a result of massive investment in the US subprime market and the disastrous takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro.

The guest list included Bruce Forsyth, Little Britain stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas, comedian Jimmy Carr, writer Bill Bryson and actors Emma Thompson, Greg Wise and Alan Rickman.

Politicians included former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ming Campbell and the current and former Scottish secretaries, Jim Murphy and Des Browne.