Ban the bankers!?

Nick Clegg, leader of the LibDems, has proposed today in the Times that Directors in charge of the various failing banks when they had to be rescued by the taxpayer should be disqualified from sitting on company boards.

There is a certain attraction in this. After all, we bar bankrupts from certain rights until they have made good. The directors of the banks concerned, - Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland, HBos and B & B, have hurt thousands, if not millions, in their profligacy, and some have walked away with huge golden handshakes and pensions.

But while this may appeal to the anger within us, and the sense of injustice, there are problems:
- should the ban also apply to other future income sources, such as sinecures with Quangos or with the government?
- what about guilty parties who escaped before the rescues were necessary, but who were involved early in the practices which led to failure?