Britain often takes the high ground when it comes to international morality, yet is itself increasingly beset by political and financial scandals and accounts of gross self interest and greed.

By Tuesday this week, three former Labour ministers were suspended and the Financial Services Authority had arrested six people on charges of running a sophisticated insider trading network.

Stephen Byers, a former transport secretary, was filmed saying he was like a cab for hire who would work for up to £5,000 a day.

The three politicians were caught on camera, allegedly to varying degrees proposing to use their political influence to benefit lobbying groups or big business.

Meanwhile in finance, two senior city professionals at leading city institutions and one at a hedge fund were three of six people arrested on suspicion of being involved in a sophisticated and long-running insider dealing ring following an investigation by the FSA and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

In the eyes of the public, the perceptions of both politicians and big-wigs in the City are at or close to all time lows.

Both sectors require a rebuild in public confidence after the recent MP expenses debacle and the crippling credit crunch, yet as the days and weeks pass more and more stories of personal greed and self interest surface.

Trust has been broken – everybody accepts that – but rather than being able to rebuild it, any good work that is being done is swiftly undone as Britain’s investigative journalists and the like continue to uncover scandal after scandal.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s not as bad as the ceaseless list of names which followed Tiger Woods’ recent acceptance of guilt, whereby female after female entered the public realm after the initial story broke.

However as is the case in politics and financial services, trust only has to be lost once for things to change.

The Brits are a somewhat wary and cynical nation at the best of times, so for many, trusting politicians or people in high finance is never going to be easy.

Perhaps the nation will learn to live with a new form of trust, in that those who are not indicted for breaking the law must be doing something right.

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