The Observer profile: Treasury tsar called to account

After steering the economy through a year of disasters, the Chancellor of the Exchequer - sold as a 'safe pair of hands' - has yet to convince the public, the City and the banks of that. But they love him at the Treasury En route to Bristol recently, Alistair Darling was due to give a phone interview to a local radio station from the train, but his officials had booked him a seat in a 'quiet zone'. Some cabinet ministers might have boomed their thoughts across the carriage, regardless, but rather than infuriate his fellow passengers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer crept into the toilet cubicle, sat down and gave the interview from there. There may well have been other times since he took on the second-highest office in the land a year ago that Darling has felt like locking himself in the toilet. Not only has he steered the... [read full story]