This is a transcript of an interview with Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the exchequer, with Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, James Blitz, the FT’s political editor and Chris Giles, the FT’s economics editor on July 3. It is unabridged and has been edited for clarity.

FT: It did occur to me coming out here, actually, that with your extensive experience in Whitehall and notably your ability seemingly to turn up in departments that are in a mess and clean them up, this must be the first department you’ve turned up in that’s actually not a mess.