Diamond to get £2m Barclays pay-off (From Southend Standard)

Diamond to get £2m Barclays pay-off

10:20am Tuesday 10th July 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond has walked away from the Libor scandal with a £2 million pay-off but is facing the prospect of a second grilling from MPs.

Members of the Treasury Select Committee want to recall Mr Diamond amid accusations he misled them over regulators' concerns on the bank's behaviour.

The allegations follow a revelatory hearing with Barclays chairman Marcus Agius, who confirmed Mr Diamond will receive a year's salary and pension cash contribution worth £2 million after "voluntarily" waiving a potential £20 million in deferred share bonuses.

The cross-party committee of MPs also heard that Bank of England boss Sir Mervyn King told Mr Agius that Mr Diamond no longer had the support of regulators before he quit.

But members of the committee said the meeting with Mr Agius highlighted inconsistencies in Mr Diamond's evidence.

Mr Agius - who also resigned, but will remain at the bank while a successor to Mr Diamond is found - admitted that Barclays' relationship with the regulator was "strained", although he denied allegations they were in "a pretty desperate state".

The hearing painted a picture of a chequered history between the FSA and Barclays leading up to the Libor fixing scandal - but Mr Diamond had given a very different account, according to MPs.

John Mann, a member of the committee, alleged that Mr Diamond "serially misled" Parliament on a range of issues.

He said it was the majority view of the committee that Mr Diamond should be recalled.

Mr Mann - who is also pressing for Mr Diamond to donate his £2 million pay-off to charity - added: "There's a question of the reputation of Parliament."