Nationalisation of Northern Rock in the event that the takeover bids fail. On 12 January 2008, the Treasury recruited Ron Sandler, the former Lloyd's of London Chief Executive, to lead Northern Rock, in the event that the bank was nationalised. If the Bank was to be temporarily nationalised, the government would manage the Bank at "arm's length" on a commercial basis, where services for savers and borrowers would not be affected and the company would continue to operate as normal. However nationalisation would also address the future of the Northern Rock Foundation. Alistair Darling rejected the possibility of the Bank being put into administration.
Nationalisation of Northern Rock were the three companies short listed by the government to value the bank. On 9 September "The Times" reported that Andrew Caldwell, a valuations partner at BDO Stoy Hayward had been chosen as the valuer, with a fee of £4.5 million. The legal action brought by investors against the Government started in the Royal Courts of Justice on 13 January 2009. Shareholders were also staging a demonstration outside the court. One of the points that was revealed about the case is that they were examining who 'leaked' the information about the bank receiving its emergency government bailout. In order to