A whiff of familiarity in Mandelson’s 2009 collusion with the banks

For Labour veterans of the financial crisis the Epstein files revealed a betrayal – but 16 years on, is the City calling the shots? Today’s advocates of a windfall tax on the UK’s highly profitable banking sector detected a whiff of familiarity in Peter Mandelson’s suggestion, back in 2009, that JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the chancellor.Feeding a Wall Street financier market sensitive titbits was an extraordinary breach of trust – perhaps even illegal, it seems – but for Labour veterans of the financial crisis, Mandelson’s collusion with the banks against his own colleagues was the worst betrayal. Continue reading...