BORIS JOHNSON has chosen today to leap to the defence of financiers, despite the self-inflicted chaos seen in money markets in recent weeks.
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The City is full of “very talented people who allocate capital very efficiently,” the London Mayor told listeners to BBC Radio London this morning.
Against the background of bank nationalisations, crazy share ups-and-downs and mass redundancies in the finance sector, Johnson’s comments are likely to raise an eyebrow or three.
Johnson even applauded the very ‘sub-prime’ lending in the US housing market that many believe lies at the heart of the current crisis.
“Millions of Americans will enjoy the long-term benefits of home ownership, and that is thanks to the ingenuity and enterprise of people who lend money for profit,” he told the Daily Telegraph, by way of defending the multi-million bonuses enjoyed by failed bankers.
Meanwhile, the Mayor confirmed that prices on London’s Tubes and buses would rise sharply in January 2009. “We need to get the finances in good health,” he explained.
