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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Tory MPs call for more knighted bankers to get Fred Goodwin treatment | Tory MPs call for more knighted bankers to get Fred Goodwin treatment |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Tory MPs are calling for Sir Victor Blank and Sir James Crosby to be stripped of their knighthoods for their roles in the merger of Lloyds and HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. | Tory MPs are calling for Sir Victor Blank and Sir James Crosby to be stripped of their knighthoods for their roles in the merger of Lloyds and HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. |
| As Downing Street confirmed that the rules would be relaxed to allow peers to be expelled from the House of Lords, senior Tories said the former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin should be the first of many bankers to be stripped of their knighthoods. | As Downing Street confirmed that the rules would be relaxed to allow peers to be expelled from the House of Lords, senior Tories said the former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin should be the first of many bankers to be stripped of their knighthoods. |
| Goodwin was deprived of his on Tuesday after a report into the near collapse of RBS by the Financial Services Authority criticised him for excessive risk-taking. | Goodwin was deprived of his on Tuesday after a report into the near collapse of RBS by the Financial Services Authority criticised him for excessive risk-taking. |
| Michael Fallon, the deputy chairman of the Conservative party, who is close to George Osborne, raised the prospect of a similar move against executives in Lloyds-HBOS after the FSA completes a report into the takeover. | Michael Fallon, the deputy chairman of the Conservative party, who is close to George Osborne, raised the prospect of a similar move against executives in Lloyds-HBOS after the FSA completes a report into the takeover. |
| Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether other bankers should be stripped of their honours, Fallon said: "There is going to a report now from the FSA into the HBOS-Lloyds disintegration. So who knows what will follow from that?" | Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether other bankers should be stripped of their honours, Fallon said: "There is going to a report now from the FSA into the HBOS-Lloyds disintegration. So who knows what will follow from that?" |
| Blank was chairman of Lloyds TSB when it merged with HBOS in 2009. He agreed to the takeover with Gordon Brown in September 2008 after Brown, then prime minister, indicated that competition rules would be relaxed because of the vital importance of ensuring that HBOS was taken over rather than collapse. Crosby was chief executive of HBOS until 2006. In 2007 he became deputy chair of the FSA, a position he held until February 2009, a month after the Lloyds takeover of his former bank. | Blank was chairman of Lloyds TSB when it merged with HBOS in 2009. He agreed to the takeover with Gordon Brown in September 2008 after Brown, then prime minister, indicated that competition rules would be relaxed because of the vital importance of ensuring that HBOS was taken over rather than collapse. Crosby was chief executive of HBOS until 2006. In 2007 he became deputy chair of the FSA, a position he held until February 2009, a month after the Lloyds takeover of his former bank. |
| One Tory said that MPs feel so strongly about bankers because they were pilloried over their expenses while Britain's banking system came close to collapse. | One Tory said that MPs feel so strongly about bankers because they were pilloried over their expenses while Britain's banking system came close to collapse. |
| One Tory said: "These guys were on the last helicopter out of Saigon while we were taking it up the chuff from Ho Chi Minh. So we are going after them. There should be more – Sir Victor Blank and Sir James Crosby. Victor Blank agreed to take over HBOS as a favour to Gordon Brown. There will be an FSA report on that next year. It won't be the same plane crash of awfulness that was RBS. But it will still be pretty bad." | One Tory said: "These guys were on the last helicopter out of Saigon while we were taking it up the chuff from Ho Chi Minh. So we are going after them. There should be more – Sir Victor Blank and Sir James Crosby. Victor Blank agreed to take over HBOS as a favour to Gordon Brown. There will be an FSA report on that next year. It won't be the same plane crash of awfulness that was RBS. But it will still be pretty bad." |
| Ed Miliband, who endorsed the decision on Goodwin, clashed with the prime minister over bankers and executive pay after he called on David Cameron to implement proposals to disclose the names of bank executives who earn more than £1m. The Labour leader also called for employees to be placed on their firms' remuneration committees. | Ed Miliband, who endorsed the decision on Goodwin, clashed with the prime minister over bankers and executive pay after he called on David Cameron to implement proposals to disclose the names of bank executives who earn more than £1m. The Labour leader also called for employees to be placed on their firms' remuneration committees. |
| Cameron rejected Miliband's demands on the grounds that the proposals would only work if introduced simultaneously across the European Union. Placing employees on remuneration committees would lead to a conflict of interest. | Cameron rejected Miliband's demands on the grounds that the proposals would only work if introduced simultaneously across the European Union. Placing employees on remuneration committees would lead to a conflict of interest. |
| The prime minister added: "We are expected to listen to the people who presided over the biggest banking and financial disaster in our history, and it is not as if they had nothing to do with it." | The prime minister added: "We are expected to listen to the people who presided over the biggest banking and financial disaster in our history, and it is not as if they had nothing to do with it." |
| Meanwhile the chief executives of all the major high street banks were summoned to the Financial Services Authority to be told that they should look for ways to "claw back" bonuses that were paid to anyone involved in the sale of payment protection insurance. | |
| In the latest attempt by the City regulator to demonstrate it is getting tough on bankers' bonuses, the demand would likely affect a wide range of staff as misselling of the insurance took place over many years. The cost to the banking industry is expected to run to at least £6bn. Downing Street confirmed that the government was planning to change the rules for expelling peers to bring them into line with the rules for the House of Commons. | |
| A white paper on Lords reform proposes at present that peers should be expelled if they are imprisoned for more than 12 months. | A white paper on Lords reform proposes at present that peers should be expelled if they are imprisoned for more than 12 months. |