At that time Darling was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Goodwin was chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Goodwin, who was born in 1958, is five years younger than Darling. Though the two of them were at the heart of the British financial community they were by no means bosom buddies. Of course, they had met from time to time but invariably it was purely to do with business.
Fred Goodwin's downfall has been dramatic
