Northern Rock: an answer

It appears that one of the answers about the timing of the reprivatisation of Northern Rock, raised in an earlier post, is that the Treasury was compelled to sell its majority stake under a commitment made by Labour. In a pact with the European Commission signed by Labour chancellor Alistair Darling, the UK government had to cede control by 2013. Clearly, the chancellor did not want to be in the position of having to make a "distressed" sale if information about the deadline leaked. Robert Peston's story is here.