Bye bye Diamond Bob

The contrast between how the US and the British ruling classes fall out has often been a subject of discussion in political circles in Britain. The Brit establishment have looked with haughty amusement at their US counterparts rushing to the media, tearing down Presidents in their untutored urge to wash their dirty linen in public. Watergate, Lewinskygate; thank goodness we have none of that in the UK!

In reality a tiny ruling circle in Britain, with an 800 year history of secret war in Ireland, a hundred year history of a well-organised labour movement, has less desire and a considerable incentive, not to spill internal secrets. The struggle to get up the greasy pole may be (was) every bit as vicious as that in the US, but there was little advantage in spilling the beans.

All this British ruling class history and tradition has been broken now of course. The '24 hour media' is named as the cause (mainly by the same media who want some kudos now they are mostly comics, as well as a few of the more demagogic politicians) for a series of stories that prick at the establishment. The Labour Party is lost to the labour movement and the trade unions have been beaten back to a much smaller (but politically stronger) redoubt. Today we can therefore read about parliamentary expenses; Cameron's loan of Rupert's horse etc. Have our rulers finally taken the American way and are they now bowing to the pressure for accountability and freedom of information?

I should Coco.

The last 20 or 30 years has changed the face of those who own and those who rule Britain. At the centre of the current British establishment is a literal cockpit. In the City no-one fights for anything or anybody other than for themselves. Mutual aid takes the form of corrupt deals. National allegiance is determined by tax rules. In the City the biter is well and truly bit. These posh boys do not play by the old rules.

Today Mervyn King, Head of the Bank of England, emerged, like Captain Mannering, blinking in the light, to tell us not to panic and to tell Diamond Bob (quietly and privately) that he had been caught being a cad and that he needed to push off. Did Bob shuffle away to a quiet life in the Virgin Isles as tradition would indicate? What did Bob and his Barclay's cronies do? They immediately issued Bob's notes of a super private conversation that he had in 2008 with Mervyn's deputy where this B of E official seems to be encouraging Barclays to lie about the interest rates they were paying banks for interbank loans. This had a direct (and false) effect on the Libor rate. (See yesterday's blog.) It was necessary apparently because the government needed to keep up international confidence in the banks!!!!

Diamond Bob will tell us all about this tomorrow (unless he gets bought tonight) when he speaks to the parliamentary committee on banks.

Tune in. Can you hear? It's the sound of a ruling class falling apart.