---

Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

We have had one blessing in disguise, which is that the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) did not pray in aid the copy of the Financial Times that is on the Dispatch Box before him. I was waiting for him to tell us that he would quote from the Financial Times; indeed, one Opposition Member—I think it may even have been one on the Front Bench—quoted many Financial Times articles. It is a great pity that the Opposition spend so much time reading the Financial Times, but learning so little from it. I am reminded of a saying that Winston Churchill used during the second world war. He quoted Dean Inge, who said, ““I've had a great many worries; most of them never happened.”” The hon. Gentleman's doomsday scenario bears no relationship to reality. I followed the Third Reading debate on the Bill, when the House was seriously misled by the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), whose comments on Granite come from another world. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury—