It's hard to know where to begin when confronted with the absolute shambles that is Bradford & Bingley. Getting into the position of having to resort to an emergency rights issue was bad enough, especially having denied it only a month earlier. But then deciding to reprice it and allowing the underwriters to walk away from their original obligations is baffling.

The whole point of getting a share issue underwritten is that the underwriters step up to the plate in difficult market conditions. That was the risk they agreed to shoulder when they pocketed £9 million in fees. Only if they were in some way misled about B&B's figures could they justify wriggling out.

If they were misled, the B&B board and/or management have some very serious questions to answer. Conditions are deteriorating in the UK mortgage market, it is true, but not that fast. The departure of chief executive Steve Crawshaw also appears a little murky. Has he gone purely for health reasons, or is there an additional explanation?

Even in the communication of this story B&B has fumbled the ball. One could argue there has been a false market in the shares for weeks. The four minutes first thing this morning when the shares were trading but before B&B had published any statement in the wake of all the weekend speculation was doubly unfortunate.

The B&B directors give the unfortunate appearance of being more concerned about the underwriters and their new best friend, Texas Pacific Group, than the one million small shareholders to whom they owe their first duty.

At the very least, this affair requires a thorough investigation by the Financial Services Authority.

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