Darling criticises 'tawdry' treatment of Fred the Shred

Alistair Darling, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, has criticised the move to single out ex-Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief Fred Goodwin by stripping him of his knighthood.

Writing in The Times, Darling, who was Chancellor during the rise and fall of RBS, said Goodwin had been treated in a "tawdry" way by MPs. The former RBS chief executive became a focal point for public anger towards bankers when the credit crisis struck in 2008. He was stripped of his knighthood yesterday by the honours forefeiture committee. The former banker presided over a huge expansion in the size of RBS between 2001 and 2008, culminating in the bank heading a £49bn consortium deal to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro at the top of the market in 2007. He was awarded a knighthood for ser...