All hail Darling the decisive one

According to a report in the Times this morning it is Alistair Darling and not Gordon Brown that we shoild be hailing as the saviour of Western capitalism.

According to the paper

Arriving at the British residency in Massachusetts Avenue Mr Darling was shown a draft communiqué. The Chancellor — who has tried to maintain an impression of calm control throughout the crisis — lost his cool. Instead of a clear plan of action, he was handed a three-page document containing the usual mix of platitudinous diplomatic fudge and vague aspiration

and the paper can reveal that

the Chancellor believed that recapitalisation was the “only show in town” some time before Gordon Brown and that the Prime Minister signed up only after the intervention of his ministerial fixer and enforcer, Baroness Vadera.

Today Mr Brown is happy to take the plaudits but eight days ago it looked just as likely that he would be content for history to remember the bailout as “Darling’s plan”.