It’s hard to believe that executives at Barclays had much confidence that the resignation of Marcus Agius as the bank’s chair would place a stopper on the Libor scandal. Ed Miliband drove those doubts home this morning when, appearing on Daybreak, the Labour leader reiterated calls for Bob Diamond to resign. He said:
Former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott has also just tweeted: ‘Barclays isn’t safe in the hands of Bob Diamond. Board’s so hopeless they’ve just shot the head of the firing squad and missed the prisoner.’‘I don’t think that he can carry Barclays forward, Bob Diamond, because he was there, he was actually in charge of the part of Barclays where some of these scandals took place years back and we will obviously hear what he has to say at the Select Committee on Wednesday but I really don’t believe that the leadership and restoring trust in Britain’s banking can be done by Bob Diamond.’
So Diamond is still on trial for his job when he comes before MPs on the Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday, as well as convincing Agius’ replacement as chair that he is the man to lead the bank for the future. He will need to present a convincing argument that he can reform the bank going forward. It will be interesting to learn what his plans for improving operations are, as well as hearing his argument for why he hasn’t resigned. MPs will also want to ask whether he has considered resigning at all. And it will be impossible to resist asking whether he now feels that there needs to be a new ‘period of remorse and apology for the banks’, after he declared the last period of contrition over in January 2011.
This might not be the only grilling Diamond faces, though, if Miliband has his way. The Labour leader also told ITV that he is pushing ahead with his calls for an inquiry into the banking sector as part of what has so far been an effective strategy of standing up to the bad guys in the press and now in banking. He said he will be putting down an amendment in Parliament calling for a Leveson-style inquiry, adding: ‘I do say to David Cameron that getting everything out in the open is the best way forward and people are beginning to wonder, “has he got something to hide?”‘
I understand that Labour will table an amendment calling for a full public inquiry to the Financial Services Bill, which is at committee stage in the House of Lords. Sources say they are hopeful that this will be debated tomorrow.
Of course, if Diamond and Cameron would get a grilling from a banking Leveson, Ed Balls would also be in for a roasting. But Miliband clearly feels there is greater capital to be gained by leading calls for an inquiry now. He can worry about the evidence both he and the Shadow Chancellor would be called to give in time.
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