Diamond feared Barclays 'would be nationalised' in 2008

Bob Diamond has told MPs he feared Barclays would be nationalised during the credit crisis because of its high borrowing rate.

The former Barclays chief executive appeared before the Treasury Select Committee today to face a grilling on the bank’s manipulation of borrowing rates. Diamond referred to an "unfortunate series of events" over the last week and the "reprehensible behaviour" of some traders, which he said was not representative of Barclays as a whole. He said he was worried officials in Whitehall would think the bank was unable to fund itself because of its high cost of borrowing towards the end of 2008. "If rumours got onto the market that we couldn't fund then there might be a problem with equi...