A panel of eminent City figures is to be brought in to make the Bank of England more alert to looming financial trouble and help avoid a repeat of the Northern Rock fiasco, under plans revealed on Thursday by Alistair Darling, the chancellor.

Mr Darling wants City insiders to sit on the shoulder of Mervyn King, the Bank’s governor, as part of an overhaul designed to put financial stability “right at the front” of its operations.