The Scotsman reports:

LINKS between Government and the banking sector have been condemned in a new report that has uncovered the extent of the "old boys network" at the top of British public life.

Britain has a greater culture of cronyism than Europe or the US, according to the study, which identified key individuals who have moved jobs between politics, financial institutions and the bodies charged with regulating the banking industry.

The report warns the close relations between business and politics "lead to a conflict of interest at best and a suspension of critical faculties at worst".

As the paper notes:

The research looked at so-called "revolving door connections", when a company employs former or current politicians, civil servants or members of regulatory bodies, or where individuals move from the financial sector into politics, Government or regulatory bodies.

The worst offenders? Predictably:

Barclays was the most connected British-based company with 14 revolving door connections.

And:

The organisations with more than five revolving door connections were Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS/Lloyds Group, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Dexia Group, HSBC Holdings, JP Morgan Chase and Co, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS.

As I (and others) have been saying for some time: we’ll never solve the banking crisis whilst this goes on. But it is going on. And that’s why we’re still in a mess. And it’s why the Conservatives, with their reputation for being even worse at this sort of thing, offer no solutions at all.

Hat tip to David Leloup