Heroes and villains at the G20

By Jon Massey on April 2, 2009 1:22 PM |

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By Giles Broadbent live at the G20

If there are going to be heroes and villains at the G20, then no-one can accuse Labour of being slow to choose sides.

The hero? Obvious. Prime Minster Gordon Brown for maintaining a firm hand on the tiller and steering the world to calmer waters.

The villains? Not Nicholas Sarkozy, pictured, and the French for the entente cordiale has restored itself amidst an outbreak of (perhaps shortlived) Obama-inspired geniality.

No, the villains are the Other Ones - the tax havens, the protectionists, the financially "opaque", the slackers who fall short on meeting their obligations to the developing world.

The translators had best shape a phrase in their native tongues for the particular New Labour penchant for "naming and shaming".

Treasury minister Stephen Timms said that obscure banking havens had contributed to the current crisis because the true value of assets was hidden from view.

Responding to a question from nervous-sounding Swiss TV, he said: "The era of inappropriate banking secrecy is over."

Turning to tax havens his talk was harder with the notion of unspecified sanctions against those ominously "listed".

"Tax information needs to be exchanged," he said without equivocation.

Meanwhile climate change is securing some lip service but the issue of aid to the developing world will "feature in every leader's speech" according to one lobbyist.

Keep up with the G20 at wharf.co.uk.