It may have counted for only eight words in a speech of just over 3,000, but it was a warning nonetheless: if the banks insist on paying huge bonuses as a result of the market recovery this year, the UK Government may step in and stop them.

Lord Myners, Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury, became the first government spokesman to go this far when he addressed a dinner held by the Worshipful Company of International Bankers in the City of London last night.