No, they should definitely not be keeping their noses out.
It is lax and "light touch" regulation that has allowed banks to succumb to overwhelming greed and sharp practices that all but brought the global economy to its knees,and from which we are still recovering. Politicians have every right to express their own and our rancour at the big banks, and most especially when it comes down to cases of outright fraud.
Barclays is, from the sound of things, only the first of several big banks who are implicated in manipulating the LIBOR - something that trillions of dollars of global transactions are based upon, and which has a direct effect on yours and my mortgage rate or savings rates.I want to know, now, whether effectively I have been paying an artificially high interest rate repayment on my mortgage, feeding the greed of the bankers, but putting myself out of pocket?
Once again, greed and a cavalier attitude to risk and the law - this culture needs to be addressed, and Bob Diamond is CEO - the buck stops at his desk, it is under his guidance that such a culture has been allowed to flourish - something he obviously recognises himself, with his attempt to forestall public anger by stating that he will he forgoing his bonus.
If his resignation starts the process of cleaning up the banks, and forcing them to live up to their obligations, rather than casino gambling using the taxpayers as stakeholders of last resort, then that would be great, and I would join with any politician or petition organised to apply pressure on the Barclays board to force his resignation.