Fred might want to shred this joke book

Fred Goodwin is to be lampooned courtesy of a new joke book penned by one of his trusted boardroom lieutenants at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Dr Cameron McPhail, who served as chief executive of the Scottish institution’s wealth management division and attended crunch boardroom meetings alongside Mr Goodwin, describes his new career as a “form of therapy” after years spent in the financial sector.

Describing himself as a “once-staid banker turned humorist” the Scot’s debut book will feature a string of jokes at the expense of Mr Goodwin, who has become a pariah over the dramatic collapse of RBS during the global economic downturn.

Dr McPhail, who also served as the chief executive of the Edinburgh-headquartered bank’s international division prior to the crash, said he left RBS after “falling out with the somewhat notorious Fred the Shred”.

The 57-year-old’s jokebook, The Scottish Nationality Test: How Scottish are You? includes a host of economic funnies, many of which are based on his 14-year career at RBS, which began in 1988 when he joined as director of a restructuring initiative.

The publishers of the book, which will be released in May, promise it will include “not too taxing questions on finance, mostly to do with how Fred Goodwin got away with it for so long.”