The decision of shareholder Barclays Global Investors to vote for Hewlett-Packard's controversial bid for Compaq is not, on the face it, surprising.

After all, Pattie Dunn, BGI chief executive, serves on the HP board. She played a full part in the debate that led to HP chief executive Carly Fiorina, pushing ahead with the move. Conflict of interest? Critics will be sad to hear that BGI saw the problem coming.