Fury as Credit Crunch Civil Servant Lands Top Rothschild Job

The civil servant who oversaw the taxpayers’ stake in Britain’s crisis-hit banks is at the centre of a conflict-of-interest row after it emerged he is to join a leading investment bank. John Kingman, the former chief executive of UK Financial Investments, is to become the new managing director of NM Rothschild.

The move is expected to be confirmed as early as this week, four months after he resigned from his £143,000 job controlling taxpayers’ stakes in the bailed-out banks. His appointment has been vetted by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the body set up to ensure that senior civil servants and politicians do not unfairly cash in on their inside information when they step down to join the private sector.

It is expected that under the terms of the deal Mr Kingman will be prevented from working on Government contracts or working with the state-owned banks for at least a year. However, NM Rothschild is regarded as one of the favourites to take part in the sell-off of the Government’s stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland as well as Northern Rock, which is expected to begin inside the next two years.'

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