For the record an independent Bank of England committee concluded that King was being underpaid for the size of the job he had to do.

It thought that between £375,000 and £400,000 a year would be nearer the mark.

But King - who began a second 5-year stint in the job at the beginning of this month - chose instead to accept a 2.5 per cent pay increase to £283,564 according to the Bank of England's recently published 2008 annual report.

The banking community is renowned for its brass neck not just in the UK but around the world.

By virtue of its greed and incompetence beginning in the US it created the subprime mortgage crisis which triggered the subsequent credit crunch with hardly a word of apology anywhere.

On the limited occasions where heads have rolled at the top of organisations, executives have walked with fat payoffs.

For the rest who have clung on to their jobs despite overseeing massive writedowns, they continue to enjoy handsome pay packages.
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