Presented by Jeremy Paxman
Here's Paul Mason with more details about what's coming up tonight:
Tonight in a Newsnight special, Jeremy will be looking at Britain's rising unemployment. As figures hit 1.97 million from October to December, we ask how bad unemployment will get, who will be affected, and what the cultural impact will be on Britain. Jeremy is in Birmingham on the floor of a car manufacturing plant. He will be talking to an audience made up of politicians, industry heads and workers.
Also in the programme... following Newsnight's exclusive interview last night with HBOS whistleblower Paul Moore, the deputy chairman of the Financial Services Authority has resigned. Sir James Crosby was the man who built HBOS, from the merger of Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, leaving it to the stewardship of Andy Hornby in 2006. In 2008 it collapsed and had to be part-nationalised.
I must admit to being stunned that the revelations from Mr Moore, made under parliamentary privilege, have led to this. Here is why. Last October I broadcast the substantive revelations of Paul Moore in a BBC2 Money Programme Special: HBOS - Breaking the Bank. Since then both HBOS, and the FSA have known the essential focus of the allegations:
-That Paul Moore was sacked because he had raised problems with the bank's culture when it came to regulatory risk under Crosby
-That the decision to change his job description, and then employ somebody else to do the job was said by Crosby to be "mine and mine alone"
What puzzles me is why the simple revelation in public of Sir James' alleged role in the sacking should prompt his resignation. It must have been on the radar of the government and FSA for months. So why does the publication make a difference?
The FSA is in the middle of a massive re-examination of its role and past performance under its new boss Adair Turner. Sir James clearly believed that staying on would damage the FSA, either damage its reputation or hamper it practically. That is the import of his statement. But it goes to the heart of the problem. The FSA, many in the finance industry believe, was "captured" by the banks it was supposed to regulate.
The question of who is right or wrong in the claim and counterclaim between Paul Moore and HBOS is secondary to a bigger issue. There was systemic failure and the role of the regulator is now right in the spotlight. How can you have a policing body overseen by those who are to be policed? How can you have the deputy chairman of the FSA being the same person who designed the strategy that, arguably, crashed a major bank?
Don't miss it.
See you at 22:30.
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