Mr W, yes you were right IMHO!
But not according to the Conservative Party.
Not according to David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party.
According to David Cameron, Gordon Brown was, quote : "The great regulator"
From the Conservative Party website :
"Everyone knows that business need deregulation to compete with China and India.
Who’s standing in the way? The great regulator and controller, Gordon Brown."
http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2005/10/Cameron_Change_to_win.aspx
.
Of course it was complete nonsense for David Cameron to call Gordon Brown the "great regulator".
But for someone slavishly committed to the neo-liberal deregulated free-market, even Gordon Brown's "light touch" regulation was seen as an unacceptable level of government interference.
Needless to say, David Cameron's speech was made in 2005 before the catastrophic global economic failure caused by deregulated financial services in the US, Britain, etc.
Even as late as November 2007, Rupert Mudoch's Times was singing the praises of Iceland's deregulated financial services……….could there be a better example of how well deregulation of banking works ?
Deregulation brings boom time to Iceland
Quote : "Billionaires who blossomed after financial controls were eased have brought new vigour to a city that once was a business backwater"
Of course we all now know what happened to the Icelandic banks.