Financial services is Britain's largest and most successful industry, employing more than 1m people, generating 5 per cent of gross domestic product and overseas earnings of £17.8bn a year, and accounting for more than one-third (£7bn) of the national corporation tax take.

My perception is that most people in this industry are essentially Conservative but that many voted New Labour in 1997 as they bought Tony Blair's "market economics with social justice" line and felt it was time for a change of government. Many did not vote at all in 2001, partly because they thought the result was a foregone conclusion and partly because they were supportive of Gordon Brown's prudence as chancellor in his first term - particularly his transfer of monetary policy to the Bank of England and the reduction in capital gains tax on business assets.