Roll up, for another chance to watch Vince Cable and Michael Fallon defend their sale of 60% of Royal Mail at just 330p a share. Whadyamean, you've watched this show already and it doesn't bear a repeat? The business select committee feels otherwise and has ordered the business secretary and his privatisation helper to appear again on 29 April. The trigger is last week's scathing report from the National Audit Office, which rightly highlighted the many departmental faults.
This column's view: taxpayers were treated shockingly and Cable and Fallon's worst mistake was selling to the maximum 60% even when it was blindingly obvious that shares pitched at 330p or below would fly. It would have been far better to sell in stages if the government was serious about getting proper value.
Frustration with the manner of the Royal Mail's sale, then, is understandable. But will a second cross-examination by the business committee get anywhere? Almost certainly not. Cable and Fallon have stuck to their lines rigidly, to the point of trying to turn the NAO's critical view of their "deep caution" into praise. They are not about to concede errors now.
