Darling’s new memoirs have handed Tories an open goal, claims Balls

The Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has acknowledged that the explosive revelations said to be contained in Alistair Darling’s memoirs would give the Conservatives more ammunition to attack Labour.

Mr Balls expressed some frustration that the former Chancellor’s account of the arguments that raged during the credit crunch would hand the Conservatives a chance to divert attention from the country’s current economic problems.

According to reports, the book, to be published next week, will accuse Mr Balls of being part of a parallel Brown-led Treasury operation in the last government, which clashed with the then Chancellor, Mr Darling.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Balls said the issue was “history”. But in a sign that Labour recognised the damage the book could cause, he said: “I have to say that if I were George Osborne at the moment, totally on the defensive on my failing economic plans, I would think there’s nothing better than a book, a memoir, some revisiting of the past.”

But he added: “The world’s moved on. There’s big challenges today, that’s my job.

“Look, people want to write their memoirs and that’s fine, but let’s focus on the jobs and living standards of families for the future, that’s what really matters for our country.” Yesterday it was also reported that the book will deliver a withering verdict on the behaviour of bailed-out bankers during the credit crunch.

According to extracts published on a Labour-supporting blog, the response of the former RBS chief Sir Fred Goodwin to the crisis was “more like someone off to play a game of golf”.

The Labour Uncut blog also claims that the book says that Sir Fred “deserved to be a pariah” when he later refused to slash his pension after being fired by the RBS board.

The book, Back from the Brink – 1,000 Days at Number 11, contains an extract in which Mr Darling says: “My worry was that they were so arrogant and stupid that they might bring us all down.”

The Edinburgh South-West MP reportedly says former HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby “looked like he was about to explode” when confronted with the magnitude of what had happened on his watch.

He is also said to complain that all the bank bosses showed an arrogance and a lack of gratitude for the massive, multi-billion-pound taxpayer bail-out.

The book refers to Gordon Brown’s “brutal and volcanic” mood as he tried to deal with the financial crisis.

It also deals with Mr Brown’s attempt to replace Mr Darling as Chancellor with Mr Balls – a move that failed when the Chancellor threatened to walk out of government if it went ahead.

In Glasgow yesterday, Mr Brown said that he was not going to “get into politics” when asked if he had a response to the comments attributed to Mr Darling.

Asked about his reaction to the “brutal and volcanic” description of him, the former Prime Minister said: “I’m here to talk about football and I’m talking about the sport I love, I’ve always followed, and I’m not going to get into politics today.”

He was speaking at a press conference at Hampden stadium, where he was announced as the new patron of the John Thomson Memorial Committee, to mark the 80th anniversary of death of the Celtic goalkeeper, who died during an Old Firm match.

Last night Mr Darling’s publisher, Atlantic Books, issued a statement saying it “would like to state that reports of the book’s contents do not fully and fairly represent the author’s views as expressed in the book”.