Darling attacks 'stupid' bankers in his memoirs

Former chancellor Alistair Darling brands the bankers who caused the financial crash "arrogant and stupid" in his forthcoming memoirs, it was claimed today.

Mr Darling is particularly critical of Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced ex-head of Royal Bank of Scotland, who "deserved to be a pariah" when he initially refused to slash his £700,000-a-year pension after leaving the bailed-out bank.

Sir Fred is also accused of having an attitude more in keeping with "someone off to play a game of golf" as the country stood on the brink of financial meltdown, according to the website Labour Uncut.

In the latest revelations from his book, Back From The Brink: One thousand days at No11, Mr Darling is said to identify a cast of characters guilty of causing the crisis with damning criticism reserved for the bankers.

"My worry was that they were so arrogant and stupid that they might bring us all down," the Labour MP is reported to have written.

Yesterday it emerged that the book, which is out next week, will describe Gordon Brown as "brutal and volcanic" and Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King as "amazingly stubborn and exasperating".

Publishers Atlantic Books declined to comment.

Mr Darling's criticism came as Ed Miliband stepped up attacks on David Cameron and George Osborne amid fears that the world is heading towards a double-dip recession. The Labour leader accused the Prime Minister of being "naive" in claiming that Britain was a safe haven in the latest round of economic turmoil.

Calling on Mr Cameron to press the case for an early meeting of the G20 group of wealthy countries to address the crisis, Mr Miliband wrote in the Financial Times: "It is now urgent for the G20 to focus on the three challenges of growth, debt and banking stability."