<div>UPDATE 3-Former Thomas Cook boss defends record after firm's collapse</div> <!-- no image --> <div>* Government backing would have delivered rescue - ex-CEO (Updates with government response)<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/reuters/UKBankingFinancial?a=lxy5SgcRP0g:VDCQ8JPu6a0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/reuters/UKBankingFinancial?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/reuters/UKBankingFinancial?a=lxy5SgcRP0g:VDCQ8JPu6a0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/reuters/UKBankingFinancial?i=lxy5SgcRP0g:VDCQ8JPu6a0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></a> <a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~ff/reuters/UKBankingFinancial?a=lxy5SgcRP0g:VDCQ8JPu6a0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/reuters/UKBankingFinancial?i=lxy5SgcRP0g:VDCQ8JPu6a0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/reuters/UKBankingFinancial/~4/lxy5SgcRP0g" height="1" width="1" alt=""></div> Posted by Reuters