Goodwin dined with PM at Chequers as RBS collapsed - papers

Fred Goodwin, the former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, wined and dined at Chequers with Gordon Brown in the same year that he was presiding over the biggest losses in British corporate history, The Independent reports.

Sir Fred, who resigned last October shortly before the RBS collapsed with debts of more than £24bn, visited Chequers with his wife, Lady Joyce, earlier in 2008.

Yesterday, Downing Street released a glittering list of the rich and famous who have been Gordon and Sarah Brown's guests at the Prime Minister's country residence in a series of announcements about the cost of running the Government. Full story...

BRITAIN'S recession-hit economy faces a long slog back to growth as the credit squeeze holds back recovery and will bounce back more slowly than from any downturn since the 1970s, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

In its annual health check of the UK published yesterday, the Washington-based lender predicted a 4.2% decline in GDP for 2009, and anaemic growth of just 0.2% next year - markedly weaker than the 1.3% predicted by the chancellor in his April budget. Growth would not return to its long-term average rate before 2011, it warned.

Recovery from recession will be "gradual", it added, and while growth may pick up quite sharply over the coming months as firms resume production, the UK could face a, "'double dip' growth path, with stronger rebound in mid-2009, followed by some weakness later in the year". Full story...