The deputy prime minister is interviewed in tonight’s Evening Standard, where he speaks about, among other things, his attitude towards the British banking system. Here’s an excerpt:
“There is no doubt in my mind that what we saw, what peaked in 2008, was rotten to the core,” he says. “We cannot afford as a society, as a country, to have a banking system that is like a cuckoo in the nest, which pushes everything else out and which causes huge costs for millions of British taxpayers.
“Yet again the lid has been lifted on a culture which appeared to be permissive of behaviour that may prove to be downright illegal, but was certainly downright wrong.
“That’s why I think the people at the top set of the culture of organisations … particularly people like Bob Diamond who are paid huge amounts of money when the going gets good, [who] received socking great bonuses when the returns were good, it is perfectly reasonable to ask them to take responsibility for the team they led when things go bad.”
No sympathy for Diamond then. Does Clegg think the chief executive deserves his pay-off, of an estimated £20 million?
He curls his soft lip. “It seems to me that a pay-off is, you know, just a cherry on the top of a cake, a vast pile of bonuses and remuneration … I don’t think Bob Diamond is going to end up rattling a bowl on a street corner somewhere. They are not Masters of the Universe. That name somehow implies that they can operate according to rules which don’t apply to anybody else. They are not impervious to the law or normal ethical standards.
You can read the full interview here.
* Nick Thornsby is Thursday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs here.
