If Lloyds Bank’s Victor Blank was talking to Gordon Brown about take-over plans for HBOS at a cocktail party wasn’t he breaking the takeover code’s strict rules on secrecy? Shouldn’t somebody report them?

Yesterday the headlines said “Gordon Brown orders Lloyds takeover of HBOS”. Does Brown think he can order Lloyds shareholders to vote for the deal? This is a Class 1 transaction, shareholders will decide, not Gordon.

The FT agrees with Guido, is it now official government policy to have the regulators lie to the markets via the media? If the FSA itself is now lying and breaking the laws it is supposed to enforce, is there any point reporting law breakers?