Brown's gold sell-off leads to £850m loss

Gordon Brown's gamble in selling off part of Britain's gold reserve has cost the country almost £1bn, according to the latest figures.

Ruth Kelly, the financial secretary to the Treasury, confirmed last week that the mixed currency portfolio of euros, United States dollars and yen bought by selling gold is now worth £2.1bn.

But when the price of gold recently reached a six-year high, questions were asked. And the Treasury has confirmed that if the money had been kept in gold stocks, it would now be worth £2.95bn. In effect, the decision to sell off part of the gold reserve has cost the Exchequer £850m.

Conservatives are calling for Mr Brown to be held to account for his "bad housekeeping". The Tory MP Cheryl Gillan said: "I don't know why 40 per cent of our gold was invested back into euros because it is an untried, untested currency."