Finance minister upset by City greed

The financial services secretary Lord Myners, appointed by Gordon Brown last October to clean up the City in the wake of the banking collapse, has become so disenchanted with the greed and lack of moral purpose he has witnessed that he intends to become a theology student when he eventually steps down as a minister.

Myners gave an interview to the Sunday Times in which he said "money has become everything" in the financial community. "People have lost their sense of purpose," he said. "The absence of clear moral purpose is something that is very troubling."

Myners, who calls himself a "not particularly observant" Methodist, said he would like to study comparative theology to see how different faiths treated moral questions. It was "far too premature" to say whether he would seek to be ordained as a priest - but "you never know".

Paul Myners - as he was before he was ennobled to join Brown's 'government of all the talents' - is a former Daily Telegraph financial journalist who became a highly successful fund manager and company director. He is a former chairman of Marks & Spencer.

His disillusionment will not come as a total surprise to the City. Earlier this year he said: "I have met more masters of the universe than I would like to, people who were grossly over-rewarded." ·