Now the vultures are circling the Treasury

As the Prime Minister prepares for his monthly press conference,the pressure over the Nationalistion of Northern Rock continues unabated.

Nick Robinson has joined the fray this morning,asking

has Alistair Darling announced a policy that he has previously accepted will "lead to a slow lingering death for the jobs of the Northern Rock workers, its assets and Britain's reputation as a major financial services centre with... the chancellor cast in the role of undertaker"?

Iain Dale points out that

Labour Ministers are understandably keen to avoid comparisons between the Northern Rock fiasco and Black Wednesday. Yes, there is a very crucial difference. Trying to keep Sterling within the ERM cost the taxpayer £10 billion at the most, whereas the public liability for Northern Rock is eleven times as much

and thinks that the Time is right for David Cameron to table a vote of no confidence.

John Redwood asks

What due diligence will the Chancellor do if any before committing the taxpayer to all these liabilities? What law suits if any is he anticipating from shareholders? What will be the cost of compensation to shareholders? What will his policy be on remuneration for his new state employees and how will that fit in with other public sector remuneration

James Forsyth says

Perhaps, the greatest political danger for the government from yesterday’s nationalisation of Northern Rock is that it fits so neatly into the narrative of a government that is incapable of making a decision

And it is probably best if he doesn't open the newspapers,

yesterday's announcement, far from ending this fiasco, threatened to push the Gordon Brown even deeper in the hole he has dug

Anatole Kaletsky in the Times

It's that D for "dither" word again, coupled with much concern about "we". Enter the chancellor, announcing what "we have decided" and might, indeed, have decided five months ago. That won't do much to help headlines like "Darling must go, say voters",

,Peter Preston on Comment is Free

The Sun has sympathy for Gordon but not for Alistair

No government should make a habit of propping up failed institutions with taxpayers’ cash.
But no private firm wanted to pay the right price. So there was no option but to take the bank into temporary public ownership.
It was the lesser of two evils, and the only sensible way forward.
Gordon Brown has been brave enough to get us out of the mess his Chancellor got us into

. and the Mirror

Thankfully, his experience stood him in good stead and he did the right thing by nationalising Northern Rock.
Arguably, the Chancellor could have acted sooner but he was under an obligation to the taxpayer to hear out private bidders.
Ultimately, he has done the right thing by taking the company under government control to ensure the best deal for Britain.

Perhaps though the last word to Guido who points out some harsh economic realities

Now we have a situation where £100 billion of taxpayer's money is being bet on the UK property market as it teeters on the edge. Gordon Brown repeats the mantra that the public's money is secured against the bank's assets. The bank's assets are what exactly? The equity in mortgagees homes belongs not to the bank, it belongs to the homeowners.