Brown's gold sale cost UK £2bn

Just in case you were beginning to think that the US of A is the only country in the world that is governed by a bunch of complete arseholes, here's a little something to reassure you that you're not the only ones in your predicament.

A Little background: Gordon Brown, the man in the photo, and current Chancellor of the Exchequor (that's like Finance Minister, except that America doesn't really have one, since it's given power over its money to a private institution called the Federal Reserve), assumed he was John Smith's succssor.

John Smith was the previous leader of the Labour Party which Blair now heads.

When Smith died of a heart attack, Blair and Brown both stood as candidates for the succession. Allegedly, Blair (who was then known as Bambi because he was cute and cuddly), did a deal with Brown in a restaurant in Islington (posh part of London), whereby Brown would support Blair's leadership bid, but that Blair would stand down at some point to make way for a Brown Premiership.

Blair never did so, and this has been a sore point between the two ever since.

Here's a story on how Brown lost the country, my country, 2 billion quid.

BTW, before you start to crow, have you ever wondered why Fort Knox is so safely guarded. Is it to make sure nobody steals the gold? Or is to make sure that nobody gets inside to find that the American People's gold has been sold by the banksters and there's nothing there?

By Marie Woolf, Political Editor
The Independent
Published: 15 April 2007

Gordon Brown was accused last night of disregarding advice from the Bank of England before he sold more than half the country's gold reserves at a time when the market was at a 20-year low.

Bank officials had misgivings about Mr Brown's decision to sell 400 tons of bullion in a series of auctions between 1999 and 2002, according to The Sunday Times.

The decision cost the taxpayer around £2bn because, since then, the price of gold has almost trebled. At a meeting with senior gold traders, Bank officials were warned the sale would achieve a poor price. The Bank said the decision to sell the gold was taken by the Treasury.

The Treasury said last night the Bank "recommended auction as the best method to achieve... fairness and value for money".