The prime minister has suggested that an inquiry will be launched into how Paul Flowers was ever considered acceptable to lead the Co-op bank.
The former Co-op bank chief has been filmed buying illegal drugs and pornographic material has been found on his work laptop.
In another startling revelation, Flowers allegedly paid male escorts for sex on numerous occasions.
In a heated session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), David Cameron described Flowers as the man who ‘had broken a bank’ and demanded an inquiry be launched into how he had become chairman of the Co-op bank and how the bank had come into financial difficulties.
Cameron also questioned Ed Miliband’s judgement in appointing Flowers as a finance and industry advisor to the Labour party, saying that ‘alarm bells’ should have been ringing.
However, sceptics argue that the inquest into Flowers is politically motivated, aimed at destabilising Labour; though a spokesman for Miliband did admit that there are gaps in the system for selecting bank leaders and that questions must be asked.
It was a damaging session of PMQs for Miliband as it was revealed by Cameron that a former Labour MP Tony McNulty had tweeted that the public was desperate for a ‘Prime Minister in waiting who speaks for them – not a Leader of the Opposition indulging in a partisan Westminster Village knockabout’.
Miliband countered by highlighting the role of tax exiles in Tory funding and the allegations of fraud surrounding the Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps.
The liveliest moment of the session came when Labour back-bencher Michael Meacher asked the Prime Minister why Britain was behind countries such as Mali and Guatemala in terms of business investment to which Cameron replied that the MP in question must have been recovering from a ‘night on the town’.
This elicited a noisy response from both sets of benches during which Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was heard asking Cameron whether he had ever taken cocaine. The Prime Minister’s spokesman denied he had heard the question.