The gravest threat to the group’s independence is its lack of confidence in its ability to remain so or its desire to stay that way. In that context, Derek Wanless and Lord Alexander were foolish to sit down with Abbey National and the Pru. The costs of buying into the big time have been horrendous, the returns so far insignificant.The investment banking division has shelled out pounds 1bn in the past 18 months on acquisitions and seen its cost base rise from an annualised pounds 800m to pounds 1.2bn. Recommendation 51 does not appear in Sir Ronnie’s report but what it says is that his committee should be the last committee on corporate governance That is one box everyone will tick..

If Rip Van Winkle had woken up yesterday to take a look at NatWest’s interim results he might have been forgiven for asking what all the fuss was about. Profits of pounds 775m, a 10 per cent rise in the dividend and a return on capital in its core high street bank that many companies would die for – it is not on the face of it a case study in crisis management. Sadly NatWest is living not in a fairytale land but a nightmare, largely of the bank’s own creation. Analysts left their meeting long faced yesterday, the shares tumbled and the speculation over the group’s future and those of its senior managers can only intensify. The last thing New Labour wanted was a report that actually required it to legislate. Corporate profligacy was a perfect stick with which to beat the Tories while in opposition. In office it quickly becomes a minefield into which only the bombproof should venture.

Remember what happened to Ken Clarke when he tried to scrap tax breaks on share options for Asda check out staff?The lesson has not been lost on Labour. Suddenly it has a lot of better things to do than forcing companies to obtain shareholder approval for executive pay packages.Sir Ronnie has wisely not left any hostages to fortune. Sir Richard Greenbury, who was the last man at he controls, advised Ronnie not to accept the job and he didn’t let him down. For once the advance publicity was no exaggeration.The committee started from the premise that good corporate governance is all about adopting broad principles and then applying them flexibly and with common sense to individual circumstances. Over 140 written submissions and 200 discussions later it never really gets very much further. The list of 50 conclusions and recommendations boils down to the incontrovertible and uncontroversial conclusion that businesses are better run when equipped with informed, independent-minded and qualified directors, shareholders and auditors.Small wonder that the plaudits flowed in thick and fast from a grateful business community confronted with nothing more exacting than the odd recommendation on the correct proportion of non-execs a board should sport and handy tips for goodhousekeeping at the agm.Of course, it is not just businessmen who will be relieved. All of which makes endless lists of prescriptive rules something to comply with on paper and then promptly ignore in practice.But he is even more accurate in his candid reflection that the Hampel Committee on Corporate Governance might never have been necessary.Reading through the 40-odd pages of its preliminary report it is easy to see his point of view.