FT: Lenihan worst finance minister in Europe

BRIAN LENIHAN was yesterday named the worst finance minister in Europe in an annual ranking by an influential financial paper.

The accolade, bestowed on the 51-year-old by the Financial Times European Finance Minister Rankings 2010, came as recognition of Mr Lenihan’s record-breaking economic “achievements”, which include being in charge of the biggest budget deficit in EU history and delivering the most costly per capita bank bailout ever.

It is the second year in a row the Financial Times has placed Mr Lenihan bottom of the 19 European finance ministers studied. The paper said Mr Lenihan who, prior to being appointed Minister for Finance by Brian Cowen in 2008 had no experience in economic affairs, was overcome by the scale of Ireland’s crisis and failed to rescue the banks, despite the massive taxpayer bailout.