If there’s a need for an investigation into a bank’s chair then look at HSBC, not the Coop

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The Guardian has reported:

David Cameron has raised the prospect of an inquiry into the Co-op Bank over its financial struggles and embarrassing revelations about its former chairman the Rev Paul Flowers.

The prime minister described Flowers as the "man who has broken a bank" following questions about his financial competence, drug-taking and resignation as a Bradford councillor over adult material on his computer.

I find this quite extraordinary. Paul Flowers has clearly failed in his job, in the expectation of him as a Methodist minister and as a councillor. All are a personal tragedy and it is clear an inappropriate person appears to have been appointed the chair of a bank - which is also a failure by the FSA.

But does this require an enquiry? I doubt it, very much. This has a great deal of similarity to the seemingly related demand for an investigation into union campaigning - which once more seems to be a massive exercise in misuse of government funding for party political purposes.

There are enquiries we do need. For example, how is it that HSBC still has a banking licence despite paying almost $2 billion in fines for money laundering? And perhaps even more importantly, how did David Cameron appoint the chair and former chief executive of that bank who was in office when those offences took place to be a member of the House of Lords and a trade minister in his government?

There should also be an enquiry into bank mis-selling. Where's that?

These seem to be issues requiring investigation. Paul Flowers and Unite's campaigning are not.


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