Whoever books the venues for the away days of the Barclays board obviously has an acute sense of historical irony. Ten days ago, directors of Britain's third-biggest bank by market value descended on Cliveden, the country retreat whose knack for attracting scandal and intrigue has neatly mirrored that of Barclays itself.

Coincidentally, Cliveden – built in 1668 by the Duke of Buckingham for his mistress, the Countess of Shrewsbury - ‎is roughly the same age as 327 year-old Barclays. In the 1960s it was the setting of the Profumo affair, which was highly damaging to the government of the day. But the grand hotel's recent history seems tame compared with the UK bank.