Northern Rock will “operate as normal”, said the UK government on Sunday, after announcing its intention to nationalise the stricken bank. Yeah right. When 6,500 employees who have hitherto worked for an aggressive, cost-conscious company (albeit with a flawed business model) wake up to find they work for the government, things are not normal. It is a priority for the state to explain exactly how it intends to run the bank.

So far, the government has said Northern Rock will be managed at arms length. That does not reveal much. An independent boss could well be monitored by a board stacked with non-executive apparatchiks. Certainly, new management cannot simply be given carte blanche to do what it wants. Deciding to bid for Bradford & Bingley, for example, is not going to be an option. The government could easily set the bank’s strategy at a distance, without dirtying its hands.