Wealth & Money Quote by David Cameron

A neat bit of political jujitsu: Cameron sells bank reform as pro-business while aiming the blade at bankers. The opening - "another way we are getting behind business" - frames government intervention not as meddling but as boosterism, a rhetorical trick that tries to keep Conservatives on-side while justifying tougher oversight. "Sorting out the banks" is deliberately vague: it sounds like competent housekeeping rather than coercion, masking the fact that "sorting" could mean regulation, capital requirements, or pressure campaigns.

The pivot is the moral invoice. "Taxpayers bailed you out" drags the financial crisis out of the technical realm and into a story of debt and obligation. It recasts banks from market heroes into public dependents. "Repay the favour" is pointedly domestic language, like settling up after someone saved your skin. Cameron is trying to convert public anger into leverage: if the state rescued you, the state gets to set terms.

Then comes the policy demand, framed as patriotism and pragmatism: "start lending to Britain's small businesses". SMEs are the safest political protagonist - hardworking, local, job-creating - and a convenient contrast to the abstract, globally networked bank. Context matters: post-2008, lending was tight, growth sluggish, and the coalition government needed recovery without looking like it believed in big spending. This line positions the government as steward of the "real economy" while warning banks that legitimacy is conditional. Lend, or lose the right to claim you're essential.