Oh, happy day

Gordon Brown was full of it at PMQs today.  Asked to list his engagements for the day, the Prime Minister, barely suppressing his glee, answered: 

The Prime Minister (Mr. Gordon Brown): This morning, on behalf of the whole of the United Kingdom, I welcomed President Obama and the First Lady to Downing Street.

This afternoon I will be meeting President Medvedev of Russia, Prime Minister Singh, Prime Minister Aso of Japan, and the President of China. Tonight, the G20 leaders will meet in the first session of the G20 summit. I am proud that our country is hosting the G20 meeting.

Yes, Gordon was name-dropping like anything.  Not only had he had the shiny new US president and his glamorous wife to breakfast, but he was also going to spend the whole day with a lot of really, really famous people.

The first question, however, from Tory MP Edward Garnier, rather burst his balloon and he came hurtling down to earth with a bump:

Mr. Garnier: The Prime Minister and his noble Friend Lord Myners have now had 24 hours to consider whether they can confirm what Lord Myners said to the Treasury Committee about Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension arrangements. Does the Prime Minister understand that his Ministers are now held in public ridicule and contempt, and is it not time that at least one of them resigned?

Fred’s wedge, dammit.  The last thing Gordon wanted to be reminded of on such a splendid day.  He was visibly miffed when he replied:

The Prime Minister: I see that the hon. and learned Gentleman has risen to the occasion today. Lord Myners has made it very clear that he was told of something that he was led to believe was a contractual obligation but was a discretionary matter. That is the issue that UK Financial Investments Ltd is taking up with the Royal Bank of Scotland; that is the basis on which we are considering legal action; and that is the basis on which UKFI will use its votes in the annual general meeting to promote legal action.

In giving that answer, the PM was firmly nailing his colours to the mast of Lord Myners’s version of events, i.e., that Sir Fred’s pension was a matter of discretion, not contract.  This may prove embarrassing, given the unequivocal nature of yesterday’s letter from Sir Tom McKillop to the Treasury select committee:

In summary, there was no question of any discretion to be exercised in relation to Sir Fred’s pension and no discretion was exercised in this regard by any RBS director. RBS considered itself contractually bound to pay the pension benefits which had crystallised by virtue of its request to Sir Fred to leave the company – but not to pay any more than the proper contractual obligation. Mr Scott and I had been informed by Lord Myners on the Saturday evening that RBS should mitigate liabilities but not abrogate contractual requirements.

Given the diametrically opposed versions of events from Myners on the one hand and McKillop on the other, the PM had better be darn sure that Myners is right; if he isn’t, his petulant answer to Garnier will come back to bite him on the bottom. 

But no matter; for now, Gordon was basking in the limelight.  After a singularly bad-tempered PMQs, the PM bounded out of the chamber and hot-footed it down river to the ExCel exhibition centre and a blissful light lunch with Barack, Dmitry, Nicolas, Angela and the rest of the gang. 

Oh, happy day!  Oh, happy, happy day!