Jeremy Corbyn’s wardrobe was the main preoccupation of the media last week, as the government ‘smothered’ a landmark policy reversal on white-collar crime.

This related to a new proposed offence of corporate failure to prevent economic crime, heavily touted by Serious Fraud Office director David Green QC (pictured) as a tool urgently needed in his armoury.

There is a legitimate debate to be had here. The effect the new offence would have on the burden of proof is unsettling for some lawyers. And perhaps, as one City lawyer told the Gazette, there will be renewed enthusiasm for looking at this again once the SFO has shown that it can bring successful prosecutions under the existing failing to prevent bribery offence. Perhaps.

It is also, doubtless, too simplistic merely to infer that as the 2008 crash fades into folk memory, this is another victory for a financial services lobby which has ensured we are pretty much back to business as usual in the City.

That spectacular convulsion did usher in a period when policymakers turned with envious eyes towards the US, where criminal investigations and arrests made examples of individuals and businesses of the sort that create a deterrent effect.

On last week’s evidence, here in the UK at least, that period is now officially over.

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