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HM Treasury

I would like to make it clear, first, that I entirely accepted the assurances given by the shadow Chancellor in yesterday's debate about the lack of provenance of any linkage between the article and his briefings. Secondly, I accept that it is entirely appropriate for the Governor to brief the Opposition in confidence; I certainly intended to cast no aspersions and I do not think that I expressed any to the effect that doing so would be wrong. It is, as I say, entirely right and appropriate. Thirdly, I withdraw, of course, any implication that the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie) might have been involved in any deep-laid plot. My reference was focused on the issue of the requirement for confidentiality in the preparation of a complex package of this sort; it was not an attempt to link the hon. Gentleman with the issue.