Political nexus

3 July 2012 By Hugo Dixon

The government and the opposition are already arguing over the nature of an inquiry into banking standards after the Libor scandal. It could embarrass both: the Conservatives because of their close ties with the City; Labour because it was in power when the rigging took place.

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There was uncertainty about what would happen to a parliamentary inquiry into banking standards announced by the UK after the MP chosen to head it said he wouldn’t lead it if it was “partisan” and the Labour opposition said it would oppose the inquiry at every possibility, arguing instead for a public, judge-led probe.
Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, told the BBC on July 2: “I’m certainly not going to want to run an inquiry that is in any sense partisan or perceived to be partisan.”
Earlier in the day, the government had announced a parliamentary inquiry following the Barclays rate-rigging scandal. It proposed the inquiry should “building on the Treasury Select Committee’s work and drawing on the conclusions of UK and international regulatory and competition investigations into the LIBOR rate-setting process, consider what lessons are to be learnt from them in relation to transparency, conflicts of interest, culture and the professional standards of the banking industry.”
It proposed that the inquiry should be able to call witnesses under oath, including current Members of Parliament and Lords and should report by the end of 2012.

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