Osborne: Brown's government have 'questions to answer'

In Britain, Chancellor George Osborne's accused members of Gordon Brown's government of involvement in the rate-rigging scandal.

He claims the former PM's inner circle had "questions to answer" over apparent pressure on Barclays to post lower Libor rates during the credit crunch.

The comments - made in an interview with The Spectator - came as former Barclays boss Bob Diamond insisted he couldn't shed any light on the identity of "senior Whitehall figures" who suggested the rates were too high.

The magazine's political editor is James Forsyth:

"In 2008 during the financial crisis, Libor remained very low to the surprise of some people, and there is a sense that there was a concerted effort to keep it down", he said.

"I think what he is saying was that these people were clearly involved in these discussions".