The Top 10: Worst Deals in History

Nigel Farage described Theresa May’s Brexit deal as the worst in history. Not so fast...

Treaties and deals throughout history could give May's 'bad' Brexit deal a run for its money (AP)

Tom McTague, my former colleague, disagreed with Nigel Farage’s description of the government’s Brexit agreement as “the worst deal in history”, as did several other contributors.

1. The Treaty of Lutatius, 241BC. Ended the First Punic War but helped cause the Second. The indemnity, increased by the Roman Assembly, was resented by Carthage. Hannibal, their next leader, swore “never to be a friend of Rome”. From Graham Kirby.

2. Danegeld. One of Tom McTague’s.

3. Faust. Nominated by Charlie Cooper.

4. The Dutch agreeing to swap Manhattan for Run, a small spice island in Indonesia, in 1667. From Peter Warner.

5. The Darien Scheme, 1698. Central American colony bankrupted Scotland and led to the union with England (in effect a bailout) in 1707. Thanks to Julian Brook.

6. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803. Nominated by Tom McTague. “At the time, Napoleon thought it was a good deal as it meant he had some cash for warships. In retrospect, enabling Thomas Jefferson to double the size of the USA for about 4 cents an acre might not have seen such good value,” added David Sutherland.

7. Treaty of Versailles, 1919. “Eventually all the signatories suffered from it,” said Ian Moules.

8. Dick Rowe rejecting The Beatles and signing Brian Poole and The Tremeloes to Decca records instead, in 1962. Iain Martin ingeniously evaded the ban on the Beatles.

9. Ronald Wayne selling his share in Apple, 1976. Wayne, who worked with Steve Jobs at Atari, sold his 10 per cent stake for $800. Currently worth $83bn. Alasdair Brooks.

10. Eric Djemba-Djemba. He is an association footballer, I believe, your honour. Nomination inspired by Patrick Maguire. Several nominations for other footballers received.

No space for Moctezuma hosting Cortés (Charlie Cooper) or “all supermarket wine offers” (Tom McTague).

Jonathan Isaby tried to nominate Gordon Brown’s sale of gold reserves between 1999 and 2002 “when the price was rock bottom, estimated to have cost the taxpayer £5bn”. Certainly not: it was perfectly sensible to get the state out of the commodities speculation business.

Another nomination refused was the Munich Agreement – it could be argued it bought time to allow British rearmament.

In the “there is always one” category, Mark Nash nominated Deal in Kent.

Next week: Songs with brackets in their titles, such as “(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)”, The Stranglers

Coming soon: My compilation of the Top 10 Top 10s of the year

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk