Stephen Jones, who worked in Barclays’ investment banking division, made the comment about Amanda Staveley (pictured) in a telephone call with another then bank boss in October 2008, a High Court judge was today told
A financier who is fighting a £1.6billion legal battle with banking giant Barclays has accepted an apology from a former bank boss who called her ‘thick as s***’, a court has today heard.
Stephen Jones, who worked in Barclays’ investment banking division, made the comment about Amanda Staveley in a telephone call with another then bank boss in October 2008, a High Court judge was today told.
The details emerged as part of a High Court trial involving Ms Staveley, who once dated Prince Andrew.
The 47-year-old claims the bank owes her up to £1.6billion after edging her out of a major deal in 2008.
During the trial in London today, a transcript of the 2008 call in which Mr Jones criticised Ms Staveley was made available to journalists when he began giving evidence on Thursday.
The transcript showed that Mr Jones had said: ‘She’s thick as shit as well. Anyway, there you go. You can’t have everything.’
His then colleague, Stephen Morse, who was Barclay’s head of compliance at the time, had replied: ‘Well, you know she dated Prince Andrew…’
Mr Jones had said: ‘Yeah, that’s it. That’s the one. She’s got large breasts, so, you know, sorry…’
At the time of the call, the pair were discussing Barclay’s £7billion deal with Abu Dhabi which saved the bank from seeking a humiliating government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis.
Judge Mr Justice Waksman was told by a lawyer, who has been given instructions by Ms Staveley, that the financier had accepted an apology made privately by Mr Jones.
Judge Mr Justice Waksman was told by a lawyer, who has been given instructions by Ms Staveley, that the financier had accepted an apology made privately by Mr Jones (pictured at the High Court today)
Ms Staveley, who in recent months has been involved in brokering a deal which could see a Saudi consortium take control of Newcastle United FC, has made complaints about the behaviour of Barclays bosses when negotiating investment deals during the 2008 financial crisis as part of the High Court battle.
Earlier in the trial, Roger Jenkins, another former Barclays boss, who had referred to Miss Staveley as ‘the tart’ in a phone call, had apologised.
Mr Jenkins, and another former Barclays boss, Richard Boath, had discussed Ms Staveley during a telephone call in October 2008, a judge has been told.
Mr Jenkins referred to Ms Staveley as ‘the tart’ and Mr Boath referred to her as ‘that dolly bird’.
Ms Stavely claims her firm PCP Capital was given unfair terms for work done in relation to the to the Middle-East finance deals in 2008.
She claims she got a worse deal that the investors involved for her work.
Ms Staveley has made complaints about the behaviour of Barclays (pictured: The bank’s building at Canary Wharf in London) bosses when negotiating investment deals during the 2008 financial crisis as part of the High Court battle.
Ms Staveley says PCP introduced Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour to Barclays and he ‘subscribed’ to invest £3.25 billion.
She says Barclays agreed to provide an unsecured £2 billion loan to Qatari investors, but the loan was ‘concealed’ from the market, shareholders and PCP Capital Partners.
PCP is suing the bank and wants £1.6 billion in damages, while Barclays disputes the claim and says it should be dismissed.
Mr Jones resigned as head of lobby group UK Finance last month after the High Court case heard of the ‘deeply unpleasant personal comments’ by him about Miss Staveley.
He apologised for the remarks, saying they ‘do not meet the standards of language and behaviour we rightly expect’.
Mr Jones is giving evidence in the High Court trial today. The trial continues.