Sir Fred - just what did the Government know?

It appears that somebody hasn't been telling the whole truth about Sir Fred Goodwin's pension.

The Government has protested all day that they only found out about Sir Fred's pension arrangements last week. They go on to say that they will do what they can to stop him claiming the full amount.

From what has emerged in the media to date, it seems that Sir Fred's pension was agreed back in October when the Government told RBS that they were unhappy with his performance and he would have to go if a bail out were to be contemplated. So the board agreed to let him retire at 50 with £650,000 a year in pension.

But it seems as though this might not be the whole story. You see Paul Myners, the newly enobled Labour minister (who went to the same school as me), seems to have been told about the pension arrangements way back when.

So what did Myners know and when?