Charlotte Hogg didn’t know what her brother did at Barclays. Why would she?

It’s too late now, but I didn’t feel Charlotte Hogg made enough of her defence that until recently she didn’t even know what her brother did at Barclays. His own colleagues probably didn’t know either: operating somewhere below the board and executive committee where strategic decisions are really made, a ‘director of corporate strategy’ in an institution perpetually riven by power struggles is at best the equivalent of a powerless squire in Game of Thrones.

I speak from experience: for a few months long ago, I held the title of ‘head of international corporate finance’ in Barclays’ investment bank, but as far as I could ascertain it carried no authority at all. When a young man with a foreign accent stopped me in a corridor and said ‘You are my boss’, I could only reply, ‘Am I? Who are you? Who do you think I am?’ I never did find out.