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More than six months after Virgin Money's bid for the now nationalised lender was turned down, at the weekend the Treasury revealed its adviser Goldman Sachs had said a private takeover would have left the taxpayer footing up to £2bn.

I am sure those who saw this figure were instantly meant to think "Good old Gordon Brown for saving us £2bn. What a shrewd financial mind our prime minister must have."

But if you looked a little closer at Goldman Sachs analysis of the options for Northern Rock you will see while Virgin Money's bid would have taken £2bn out of our pockets it was estimated nationalisation would leave the taxpayer subsiding Northern Rock by between £450m and £1.28bn anyway.

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