Do countries need certain industries badged with their national flags? Britain gave up its nuclear industry 14 years ago when it sold Westinghouse, the power plant group, to Toshiba, of Japan. Now this important slice of the nation’s energy needs is being handled shakily by companies ranging from French to Chinese.

Britain should not go down the same path when it comes to banking, according to Jes Staley, Barclays’ chief executive. As an American whose career has been spent almost entirely on Wall Street, he casts a curious figure making the case for a British investment bank. Of course, he is trying to justify his strategy as boss of Barclays for the past four years, holding together an institution that is one of the biggest