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A think-tank led by former Tory Prime Minister Sir John Major has called for an independent inquiry into the “short-sighted firesale” of the Royal Mail.

The Bow Group slammed the Government’s shambolic handling of the sell-off, claiming taxpayers had been “robbed” of a “valuable national asset” .

Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the group, which claims to be the UK’s oldest Conservative think-tank, said: “It should now be clear to even the staunchest supporters of the government’s flotation of Royal Mail that the company was catastrophically undervalued and Britain has lost money.

“There needs to be an independent inquiry to uncover how such a degree of error occurred.

“Ultimately Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, should answer to an independent inquiry on the reasons behind the rushing through of the privatisation and its massive undervaluation.”

Sir John, who is president of the Bow Group, recently called for a one-off windfall tax on energy companies and savaged the Government for not doing enough to help the poor.

Weeks later, he condemned the “truly shocking” grip that a privately educated elite has over Britain.

The Government is under pressure after selling nearly 600million Royal Mail shares for 330p each, valuing the business at £3.3billion. But they went up to 550p within a week, making the firm worth £5.5billion.

The latest attack came as the Daily Mirror revealed investment banks advising ministers on the sale bought a vast chunk of shares in the company after it floated on the stock exchange.

Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and UBS made a packet from buying nearly £250million worth of stock for wealthy clients.

Lazard, paid £1.5million to give independent feedback to the Government on what price to sell the taxpayers stake, later cashed-in after buying more than 800,000 shares for funds it operates.

A separate part of Lazard, its asset management arm, amassed the shares currently worth £4.5million in the postal giant as it soared in value.

Adrian Bailey, chair of the Business Select Committee, which is probing the Royal Mail sell-off , branded Lazard’s actions “unacceptable” and accused it of a “conflict of interest.”

Lazard, along with Dr Cable are due to be grilled by MPs on the committee next week.