No, Mr Blank, I expect you to talk

It was revealed recently that Lloyds TSB was a predator of HBoS as long as two years ago - including the Chairman of Lloyds TSB apprently indulging in the speculation which he freely acknowledges brought down HBoS:

"I was with a business delegation that went to Israel and Palestine with the prime minister. On the plane back we were talking about the economy, the banking sector and so on, and I put to him that if there was a need for consolidation or a major rescue ... that we couldn't have a bank like Northern Rock that was sitting becalmed for nine months while the competition investigation went on,"

"The next one people were talking about was HBOS,"

Does he think short-sellers are to blame for the demise of HBOS? "I don't know
if it was a victim of short-selling but it does seem to have been the victim of
the most extraordinary market speculation, which didn't help them."

Quite. Gordon Brown's ponderous hand also weighed heavily upon the Scottish bank:

Blank attended a dinner where Brown was also a guest. The PM brought up the subject. "He said, 'if you think you want to advance on this, we will deal with the competition issues'," Blank recalls.

We now know that Lloyds TSB was not in any better position than HBoS, so the questions about who was behind the rumours that forced down HBoS shares and why become very pointed.

We need to be hearing from Mr Blank just exactly how much he used his position to murmur the bank which was his opposition and which, he freely admits, he would like to take over if only those pesky regulators weren't in the way. It would be interesting to know, as well, whether dealers working to or for Lloyds TSB were involved in the short-selling (or, indeed, whether any HBoS dealers were involved).

Before any merger gets the "I'm not looking" treatment from the regulators, we have to have a look at the real machinations behind the farce.

We currently have the quite extraordinary position where the Government has offered a deal to the two banks - but only if the merger goes through. Is this because the investors had looked at the 'merger' and thought it to be less than a good deal? Is this the UK Government blackmailing institutional shareholders into giving HBoS over to Lloyds TSB after those shareholders have said 'that will be chocolate, mate'?

Part of the deal includes the removal of senior management - except Victor Blank, why would that be?

Another part of the deal is that the banks must return to the dodgy lending practices that got them into this trouble in the first place. Who's the genius who thought that that was a good idea?

Rather than us having to wait 30 years to get the records out of the vaults and then condemn a Government that will seem to have been photographed in sepia (or use Freedom of Information legislation just to bang our collective heads against the wall of the poor UK legislation), let's get all the details out in the open now, before this dodgy deal goes through, and let's make sure that the deal is properly scrutinised by the regulators.

Most important of all, let's have a guarantee from the Chancellor that HBoS will receive the same considerations as other banks if the deal is not approved by its shareholders - if Government is to involve itself in business deals then it must do so with an equitable hand.