The power of Goldman Sachs did not come out of the blue. The Wall Street bank started building its European empire in 1986 – during Margaret Thatcher’s sweeping deregulation of the British financial sector – when it came to London and ingratiated itself with both major political parties.
From London, the tentacles of the squid moved across the Channel into continental Europe, slowly increasing the bank’s influence by lobbying in Brussels – where its chief lobbyists enjoy privileged access to both the European Commission and the European Parliament – and by playing a key role in a number of big financial lobby associations.
