Sir James Crosby began his Treasury-commissioned review of the National Identity Scheme (NIS) in September 2006 and delivered the resulting report pretty promptly about a year later. It was then sat on until it could be buried by publishing it just after the copy deadline on the same day as the government announced its own National ID Card Delivery Plan ("Mais, comme c'est bizarre; et quelle coïncidence!"*) in early March 2008.
That delay is now creating the illusion of an almost superhuman work-rate on Sir James' part, as he hits the headlines again today with the publication of his review on how to mitigate the effects of the global 'credit crunch' on the UK economy in general and the mortgage market in particular. One of the options he considers is that the government might guarantee bonds issued to underwrite the lending market (as a whole, rather than individual borrowers). Such a move would, essentially, mean the the taxpayer is ultimately underwriting the commercial mortgage market - albeit indirectly.
One problem Gordon Brown and his successor as Chancellor face is that the taxpayer is already directly underwriting a chunk of the commercial mortage market, in the form of Northern Rock - a state of affairs into which the government was precipitated partly by significant supervisory failures over the preceding decade. They therefore do not have the 'cleaner' option of either direct guarantees to specific institutions in difficulty or indirect under-writing through guaranteed bonds, but must find some way to cater for both. And they must do this without appearing to directly favour one commercial institution over another, or introducing perverse incentives for participants in the market to behave irresponsibly.
That part, though, is the policy-makers' problem, now that Sir James has set out his analysis of the problem.
Now that he's had a crack at the ID Cards system and the credit crunch, I wonder what Sir James will be asked to review next.
I reckon the front-runners are food and fuel prices, or global warming. He can't have the Israeli/Palestinian problem, because Tony bagged that one a year ago, but hasn't actually set foot in Gaza since taking the job.
*Leitmotiv, 'La Cantatrice Chauve', Eugene Ionesco
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