Banks inquiry must also interview the Prime Minister

George Osborne has called for any public inquiry into the failure in the system of banking regulation to interview ministers past and present, including Gordon Brown.

The Shadow Chancellor was speaking after Lord Myners, Minister for the City, agreed in the House of Lords that a public enquiry was needed.

George said, "The whole point of having a public inquiry is that it must cover the behaviour of everyone responsible: the bankers, the regulators and of course the ministers, past and present."

And he added, "Because so much public money has been spent rescuing the banks, any inquiry must interview witnesses in public and one of the central witnesses must be the man who was Chancellor of the Exchequer for ten years and presided over the age of irresponsibility: Gordon Brown."