Cable ‘angry’ at Diamond Barclays promotion

The decision to promote Bob Diamond to chief executive of Barclays has been met with anger in British government circles, inflaming the political row about whether the UK's big banks should be broken up.

The American-born, current head of Barclay's investment banking arm has long attracted criticism for his exorbitant salary, which last year topped £40m.

Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable was said by colleagues to be privately fuming over the investment banking chief's elevation to the top of one of Britain's most powerful brands.

"Vince thinks this shows a lack of awareness about how the public feels. People can't get their head around the sums that Bob Diamond earns," said one ally.

On Wednesday, Cable said that Bob Diamond's appointment highlighted the struggle the government faces to try and make the banking sector safer.

"We are worried about this combination of the casinos and the traditional banking," Mr Cable told BBC radio.

"Mr Diamond illustrates in a particularly graphic way what happens when you have an extremely high-paid head of an investment bank taking over one of these major international banks. It does illustrate the wisdom of the government's decision to set up the banking commission to look at the structure of banks."

Read a full report at the Financial Times (registration required). ·