When these denounced an African War in a Previous Crisis, the Boers did not allow themselves to be guided by the pinion of their friends in this country.

If that be true, and if the representatives of these firms are giving out information to the Press, as they notoriously did in a Previous Crisis, we see, on an international scale, what was the stock-in-trade of older Labour speakers about the coffin trust in Glasgow.

When the Previous Crisis arose people tried, not in the House but elsewhere, to cast aspersions on my hon. and gallant Frined the Member for Carlisle (Sir E. Spears), who was then British Minister on the spot, saying that the trouble was due to his conduct.

If the hon. Member suggests that this austerity is unnecessary, will he tell me how it is that, in a Previous Crisis, his party put over 850,000 people on the means test and robbed them of their savings?

I remember years ago, in a Previous Crisis - I think that it was the Home Secretary's crisis, but I am not sure - when I said, referring to investment, that the test should not be "Is it public or private"?

Lord Polwarth is an ardent supporter of the Government, but he said:Look at what happened in the Previous Crisis of 1957.

In the Previous Crisis the Admiralty took over the payment so that entry should be free.

My predecessor, the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Stechford (Mr. Roy Jenkins), made the point in the House last year that at the Previous Crisis gathering of the Group of Ten, when he was Chancellor, whenever the Six held a meeting he was left outside, in effect kicking his heels, when the vital interests of Britain were at stake.

As other hon. Members have said, it is a cyclical problem, but since the Previous Crisis in 1983 the industry has done an enormous amount to put its house in order.

The biggest mistake is to imagine that the Previous Crisis teaches us all the lessons that we need to know about the current crisis, but the clarity of authority was a major factor in the achievement of the rapid and successful completion of the Gulf war.

We have a dozen Tornados already in the Gulf, and we have maintained that presence ever since the Previous Crisis.

Compared with the position that France took on the Previous Crisis, on this occasion, France has shown restraint.

September 11th matched and outweighed the Previous Crisis affecting travel from the United States - the Lockerbie bombing.

The Chancellor made no mention of the credit rating agencies, but they are the canaries of risk in the system and they got it spectacularly wrong in the Previous Crisis.

All you can do is learn from the Previous Crisis, do your best repair job and wait for the next one.

Had that happened at key moments in the Previous Crisis, the wrong decisions would have been taken.

Our previous Prime Minister played his part and led the world in showing the way out of the Previous Crisis.

We must also guard against concentrating too heavily on avoiding the pitfalls of the Previous Crisis.

I applaud the Government for introducing the Financial Services Bill - it was an honour to be on the Committee - which will be critical to restoring accountability to the Bank of England and away from the completely failed tripartite model that was found so wanting in the Previous Crisis.

We are back to where we were when the seeds of the Previous Crisis were being sown.

In the Previous Crisis, the British Government, led by Gordon Brown, persuaded the world to recapitalise the banks.