King: I did not pull the trigger on Diamond

The governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, has insisted he did not call for Bob Diamond's scalp before Barclays' former chief executive stepped down.

Facing a grilling from MPs at the Treasury Select Committee hearing, King said reports he called for Diamond to be sacked were false, although he did confirm the Bank had lost confidence in Diamond. The governor was asked by Andrew Tyrie: "You handed the chairman a revolver and asked him to shoot the chief executive?" King responded: "I don't like these firearms analogies, they are absolutley false. "I made it clear to the chairman that I was not speaking on behalf of the regulators. I wanted to raise my concerns. "Barclays' board was deeply reluctant to face up to our concerns,...