Geezer PR

Cicero Consulting are having a busy start to their tenure handling public affairs for the whole Barclays Group. They won the contract in March, from previous incumbents Weber Shandwick, and beating off pitches from Portland and Lansons Communications.

Is it possible the Diamond decision came shortly after a run-through of likely MPs questions for the CEO, including the basic what-he-knew-and-when ?

Here's some of the findings of a May research report by Cicero - the result of 102 interviews with UK finance services professionals.

• 94 per cent of those surveyed believe the UK retail banking sector is negatively or very negatively portrayed by the media. Just 1 per cent think retail banks are positively portrayed by the media.
• 71 per cent of respondents believe there is a degree of hysteria in the media’s portrayal of the UK retail banking sector. Just 8 per cent disagree with this view.