Sir David Walker’s tough recommendations to improve banks’ management should dispel fears that he would not be harsh enough on the sector where he has spent his career.

Alistair Darling's appointment of Sir David to lead a government review into banks' corporate governance was met with scepticism when it was announced in February - not least after it emerged that he would retain a role as senior adviser to Morgan Stanley, where he worked between 1994 and 2006.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, called the appointment a “classic Establishment cover-up”, while the Conservatives dismissed it as a “totally inadequate” response to the growing furore over bank bonuses.

However, he has not pulled any punches in today's review, drawing on a long career has seen him work in both the private and public sectors.

Sir David, 68, began his 48-year career at the Treasury, having graduated from Queens’ College, Cambridge, with a double first in economics.

He worked at the Treasury from 1961 to 1977, interrupted by a four-year sabbatical at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

Sir David then spent years working for the Bank of England, where he became one of four executive directors in 1981.

From 1988 to 1992 he headed the Securities and Investment board, the precursor to Financial Services Authority. Between 1992 and 1994, Sir David served as the deputy chairman of Lloyds Bank, years before Gordon Brown persuaded the bank to merge with its struggling rival HBOS, which has left it 43 per cent owned by the British taxpayer.

During his time at Morgan Stanley, Sir David also acted as chairman of the London Investment Bankers’ Association for three years, ending in June 2004

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