John McCain’s campaign on Monday blamed Barack Obama for Capitol Hill’s dramatic rejection of the $700bn bail-out plan in spite of the fact that less than a third of Republican representatives endorsed the bill against two-thirds of Democrats.

Mr Obama responded with a statement saying that the McCain campaign’s “angry and hyper-partisan” finger-pointing highlighted “exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington.” He added: “Now is the time for Democrats and Republicans to join together and act in a way that prevents an economic catastrophe.”