Baroness Vadera and the Libor scandal

In July 2012, The Daily Mail reported thus:

“Leaked documents last night brought the interest-rate fixing scandal that has shaken Britain's banks closer to the heart of the last Labour government.

They suggest that Baroness Vadera, a former Cabinet Office minister and one of Labour's chief economic advisers, told officials in 2008 that bringing down the rates which determine how much banks lend to each other would be 'a major contribution to the stability of the banking system and to the health of the economy'.

A paper prepared by the peer with former colleagues at the bank UBS was headed 'Reducing Libor' – the name for the inter-bank lending rate at the centre of the scandal.

The document was circulated among officials and Lady Vadera's ministerial colleagues at the height of the credit crunch in 2008 and concludes: 'Getting Libor down is desirable’.” Brown's Asian Baroness at heart of bank rate scandal!

Previously, on 25 January 2008, The Mail told us this:

“Baroness Vadera's appointment is considered 'unacceptable'… Conservative business spokesman Alan Duncan said… ‘Putting her into the Department for Business is quite unacceptable. This is the same person who helped contrive the dubious demise of Railtrack. This appointment pollutes the integrity of the ministerial team. And in the eyes of many she is not a fit and proper person for such a job.’

Lady Vadera is considered the woman the Prime Minister trusts more than any other in his Government. The former investment banker joined the Treasury while Mr Brown was chancellor, becoming one of his closest aides.

The 45-year-old played a central role in the nationalisation of Railtrack. In 2001 she estimated renationalising the business would cost £6billion in compensation. For the Government to avoid paying those costs, she suggested in an email to colleagues that the solution be ‘engineered through insolvency.’ She went on to describe small investors in the company as ‘grannies’ who would ‘lose their blouses’.” Vadera 'is not a fit and proper person for job'