Bob Diamond lobbed a political grenade at the leading candidate to run the Bank of England as well as the previous Labour government hours after his forced departure yesterday as Barclays’ chief executive over the Libor-rigging scandal.
The resignation of the swashbuckling American investment banker, who faces a grilling by a parliamentary committee today, left a widening hole in the leadership of one of Britain’s biggest global banks.
Mr Diamond quit after the governor of the Bank of England and the head of the Financial Services Authority contacted Marcus Agius, Barclays’ chairman, in effect calling for the chief executive’s departure. His resignation followed a week of political outcry over the bank’s admission that it had manipulated interbank lending rates, resulting in a ￡290m fine.