Ed Miliband: I'm not afraid of inquiry probe into Labour link to banking

"But I will continue to press my case for the open inquiry I think we need because I think it is still what the circumstances demand."

Mr Miliband admitted that although he spoke to Mr Brown frequently, he had not asked him about the last government’s role in the events of 2008, when banks including Barclays are thought to have falsely lowered their Libor rate at the height of the credit crisis.

Pressed as to why he had not questioned the former prime minister, Mr Miliband said that it was not his job to do so.

The banking scandal was also raised on the BBC’s Question Time, when Johnny Rotten, former frontman of the punk band the Sex Pistols, appearing as a panellist for the first time, also criticised the parliamentary inquiry.

He said: "How on earth is Parliament going to discuss this really when both sides, left and right, are connected to this?

"This doesn't just go back to Brown, this is part of the ongoing problem. Mr Diamond comes from Wall Street – hello.

"Both parties love this idea. They are fiddling with rates. They are affecting the world and everything we used to count on as being dependable and accurate is being discussed by these argumentative chaps.

"If I nick a motor I'm going to be up before the judge, the rozzers [police]. Hello, same thing."