YP Comment: Bank out of credit over integrity

A highly capable individual by all accounts, Ms Hogg – and all other public servants for that matter – have a duty to uphold the highest standards of probity at all times to avoid such conflicts of interest.

What is most perturbing of all is that the family link has only emerged four years after Ms Hogg became the Bank’s chief operating officer specifically tasked with implementing best practice when it comes to corporate governance. She clearly did not lead by example. The fact that her resignation was not immediately accepted reflects badly on the judgement of Bank of England governor Mark Carney – it should not have required a damning Parliamentary report for his deputy’s inevitable fate to be confirmed.

That said, credit should go to members of the Treasury Select Committee, including individuals as diverse as Labour’s Rachel Reeves and Jacob Rees-Mogg for the Tories, for their diligence. Further evidence of the importance of senior officials being subjected to pre-appointment scrutiny by such committees, the haste in which Ms Hogg’s appointment was activated by a Treasury suggests more time needs to be set aside in the future for due process. Nearly a decade after the banking crash, and then the MPs’ expenses scandal, there are still those who need to be reminded that the most important word of all in public life is integrity.