What about the bankers who CAUSED the crash?

MANY people have reasonably complained that not one of those who caused the 2008 financial crash has ever been prosecuted.

This week, that appeared to change when four bankers from Barclays (including the former chief executive, John Varley) were charged with fraud following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

This news alarms me. As far as I know, none of them had anything to do with the market mania that led to the 2008 calamity.

Instead, they ensured Barclays did not join Lloyds, HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland in having to be bailed out with public money and becoming a massive drag on the taxpayer and the economy.

According to reports, it is alleged that Barclays made certain payments to Qatar at roughly the same time as it received a massive £6 billion loan which kept Barclays afloat.

It is claimed these payments were paid as some sort of ‘sweetener’ to encourage the Qataris to invest.

Crucially, there is no suggestion that Mr Varley or any other Barclays banker put any Qatari money into their own pockets.

Whatever alleged crimes they did or did not commit, I cannot forget the patriotic service they performed by keeping one of Britain’s greatest banks from going under — and doubtless in the process saved the taxpayer many tens of billions of pounds.