Judging by this morning's phone-ins, bankers are now well ahead of estate agents, politicians and journalists as the nation's least favourite people.

So when Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling announced the latest eye-watering sums to be guaranteed by the British taxpayer to try to get lending going again, they were at pains to emphasise that this was not to help the banks. It was for us. Today's announcements were specifically to encourage the banks to lend to business and to individuals. Because the wholesale lending market — bank to bank and between other financial institutions — has dried up, the Government has to tap into more resources.

Yes, he is angry with the banks, particularly RBS, which had to write off £8 billion for a dodgy Dutch investment this morning, and is now 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer, Mr Brown said. People have a right to be angry. But anger is not enough, he said. The Government has to deal with the situation as it is and get these banks lending again.

But again, insisted Mr Brown and Mr Darling after a string of hostile questions, it is not a blank cheque for the banks or anyone else. There will be agreements with each bank before the Government agrees to insure them against their losses on toxic assets. Likewise, the Bank of England will take assets for the new loans it is now enabled to offer to the corporate sector and to non-bank financial institutions.

“These are comprehensive measures focused on one purpose — increasing the amount of lending that is available to families and to the businesses who are the backbone of our country and who want to invest and create jobs,” he said.

Mr Brown, who had been up for most of the previous 30 hours, was understandably looking tired as he called on other countries to follow his lead - as he knows many will - this week or next.

He insisted that the measures announced today were temporary and vital to support businesses and jobs.

“I came into politics because of the scourge of unemployment in my own home area and I will not sit idly by and let people go to the wall because of the irresponsible mistakes of a few bankers,” he said.

“We will protect taxpayers’ interests, liabilities will be backed by assets and fees will be charged for the schemes that we are introducing.

“But the costs of doing nothing are simply too great. These are extraordinary times, they require unprecedented action.”

Whereas once he put all the blame on the US sub-prime market for the troubles facing this country, there has been a shift. The more he has seen in recent weeks of what British banks have been doing, the more horrified he has become.

Furious is the word that more accurately sums up his views about the people who have been taking huge bonuses for making mistakes that have have helped to bring this economy and others into dire straits.

He may well find that outright nationalisation of the banks — an unthinkable policy when it was mooted by the Labour Left in the 1970s — becomes a more and more popular idea over the coming weeks.

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