Brown praise for Bank's governor

Mr King's five-year term runs out in June next year

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has praised the performance of Bank of England Governor Mervyn King in the wake of the Northern Rock crisis.

Although Mr Brown stopped short of giving Mr King his backing for another five-year term as governor, he said Mr King had done a "brilliant" job.

Mr Brown's comments come after Mr King has faced intense criticism over his handling of Northern Rock.

Critics say Mr King did not act quickly enough to help the lender.

Balance wrong

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr, Mr Brown said he was proud of the Bank of England's performance since Labour came to power in 1997 and gave the Bank responsibility for setting interest rates.

"We've had 10 years where we've had stability, Mervyn King was deputy governor under the regime of Eddie George and is now governor," said the prime minister.

This is the equivalent of the wreck of a city after an earthquake BBC business editor Robert Peston Robert Peston's blog N Rock 'can't find buyer'

Last week Mr King told the Treasury Select Committee that it would have been "irresponsible" for the Bank to have intervened earlier to save Northern Rock.

Yet he admitted he might have got the balance wrong when the run against Northern Rock started.

From initially doing nothing to aid Northern Rock, the Bank of England then announced that it was giving the lender an emergency loan.

Critics said the move amounted to a complete u-turn, amid speculation that the government had pressured the Bank to intervene.

Mr King argued that he didn't take action earlier as "there was no point in blowing up the train before it hit the buffers".

Mr King's current five-year term of office ends next June.

'Unpopular purchase'

Separately on Sunday, newspaper reports said Northern Rock was struggling to attract a buyer.

At least 12 of the UK and Europe's biggest banks have now decided not to buy the Newcastle-based lender, according to the Sunday Times.

The paper says banks have estimated that it would require too much capital - as much as £20bn - to successfully refinance Northern Rock.

Banks said to have turned their backs on a potential bid for Northern Rock are HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB.