Elections are in theory meant to be the high points of a democracy, when politicians hold themselves accountable to the people for their past actions, and put forward their plans so voters can decide how they should be governed in the future. In practice they are often a confused mixture of high-minded idealism, attempts to ride waves of populist sentiment and low political cunning.

The securities industry is in the firing line like never before in the current UK general election, thanks to the impact of the credit crisis and the subsequent recession. Unfortunately, the desire by those seeking to be elected to be seen to be doing something to make sure the mistakes of the past are not repeated has resulted not in a coherent debate about what best to do, but a race to the bottom as the parties fall over themselves to try to assuage public anger at the banking community.