For months there was a lot of talk among the Tory-Lib Dem government about taking action against the outrageous bonuses for bankers. In the end, the Tories realized who owned their 2010 campaign success and they backed off. One leading Lib Dem spoke out yesterday against the failure and stood down in disgust. Will others follow or will it be business as usual for politicians? The banks are counting on business as usual, which is probably a good bet.
George Osborne's efforts to end the war on bankers are crumbling as Vince Cable, the business secretary, said he was still determined to end "unjustified and outrageous" salaries in the sector and his Liberal Democrat ally Lord Oakeshott left his party's frontbench after damning the government's attempts to curb bonuses.Bob Diamond is of course the American banker who is now the official CEO of Barclays Bank. Diamond has proven himself to be perhaps the most arrogant of all bankers, dismissing all criticism and proclaiming the time for "remorse and apology" was over for the banks. Diamond is rumored to have pocketed over $12 million in bonus money this year and well over $90 million in the past five years. Barclays, you might remember, borrowed heavily from the US Federal Reserve to help keep itself afloat during the crisis.
Oakeshott, who was not in the government but spoke for the junior coalition partner on Treasury matters in the Lords, stood down shortly after he criticised officials working on the government's deal with the bankers and said: "If this is robust action on bank bonuses, my name's Bob Diamond."
