How underrated chancellor Alistair Darling helped weather financial crisis

Labour politician, who has died aged 70, faced toughest challenge of his career when economy crashed in 2008

• Former chancellor Alistair Darling dies aged 70
• Gordon Brown: Alistair Darling was a rare exception - a politician who quietly got things done

Alistair Darling spent three turmoil-filled years as Gordon Brown's chancellor but the crunch came in October 2008 when he was summoned out of a meeting of EU finance ministers to take a call from Royal Bank of Scotland, then the UK's biggest bank.

The news was grim. RBS was running out of cash and would soon have to close branches and shut down cash machines. How long have you got?" Darling asked, expecting the answer to be a couple of days. He was told the bank had two or three hours before it ran out of money.