Northern Rock and Banking Reform

I agree with the hon. Gentleman entirely. Again, he is a member of the Committee and contributed greatly to the report. There were no war games taking place. Back in 1997, when the system was established, perhaps it was suggested that it would work because there were four individuals involved: the Governor of the Bank, Eddie George—Lord George—and his deputy, Howard Davies, and the permanent secretary at the Treasury, Terry Burns, and his deputy, Steve Robson. They all knew one other, and might have thought, ““If anything goes wrong in the system, we'll be able to sort it out, because Eddie knows Terry, who knows whoever else.”” However, when the players change, the system must be robust, but it was not robust, so war games are an essential element in ensuring that it becomes so.