Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

Meanwhile, now that Project Merlin has been agreed and bankers’ bonuses no longer dominate the front pages Barclays has released details of bonuses and compensation paid to its boss Bob Diamond and other staff members. Chief executive Diamond, the public face of the bank, did not actually get the £9.5 million bonus for 2010 everyone thought he would and, we are told, got a much more modest £6.75 million – emblematic of restraint and sensitivity to these straitened times. Mr Diamond wasn’t even the best paid in his bank. Two of his lieutenants, Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci of the Barclay’s Capital received something like £77 million in bonuses, incentives and rewards for past performance. Some 231 senior employees – known as “code staff” – took home £554 million between them, an average of about £2.4 million per executive. In deference to political and public sensitivities, we are told, Mr Diamond’s pay for 2011 will be an annual salary of £1.35 million, up from his current pay of £250,000. His annual bonus will be 2.5 times his salary – £3.37 million – and he will also receive a long-term incentive plan of five times his salary. Some 10 per cent of his long-term rewards will be based on “sustainability” of the business including factors such as the bank’s relationships with regulators.