Robert Diamond was appointed as Barclays chief executive making a lot of people smile at his name but even more scratch their heads in puzzlement.

Diamond is sort of the Darth Vader of banking, having earned millions of pounds in bonuses as the head of Barclays Capital when banks had to be helped out by taxpayers who were losing their jobs in the financial downturn. He is an investment banker and taxpayers worry that his risk-taking nature will push the bank more towards the gambling strategies that led to the banking crisis in the first place.