Mr Cameron used his veto last month to opt out of the treaty, arguing that the UK needed to keep its authority over financial services in the City of London.

BBC: EU summit: UK and Czechs refuse to join fiscal compact

In an existence of almost 25 years, the SFO has never commanded much respect from the police or from its counterparts at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City watchdog - whose own performance in taking action against financial wrongdoers is perceived to have improved from a very low base.

BBC: SFO: Can it survive Tchenguiz humiliation?

The extent of HBOS' problems were revealed in a week when the City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, said it had raised concerns about the way the bank was being run as far back as 2002.

BBC: Darling defends bailout of HBOS

But here is the thing: The size of the takeover may well be its attraction, in respect of one aspect of public policy, but it looks likely to be its undoing, at the hands of another part of the state apparatus, the City regulator, the Financial Services Authority.

BBC: The threat to Co-op��s plan to be a bigger bank

Just when Britain's banks would have loved some positive publicity, the City watchdog - the Financial Services Authority - has said they were guilty of serious failings in the way they sold complicated products to small businesses that were supposed to protect those businesses from sharp rises in interest rates.

BBC: Business