This belief was fostered after a telephone conversation in the autumn of 2008 between Mr Tucker and Bob Diamond, who at the time ran Barclays' investment bank, Barclays Capital, and is today chief executive of Barclays.

BBC: What did Bank of England say to Barclays about Libor?

These senior people have now been named by the BBC's business editor Robert Peston: Paul Tucker at the Bank of England, and Bob Diamond at Barclays.

BBC: The strange silence and an absence of information

Today, under cross examination by MPs, Bob Diamond may reveal more about his call with Paul Tucker, the man from the Bank of England who said senior Whitehall figures were pressurising him.

BBC: Barclays Banks - A Whitehall whodunit