They began by saying sorry.

But then the four ex-bankers hauled before the Treasury select committee reverted to type to insist that nothing was actually, directly, their fault.

For the unhappy quartet - Sir Fred Goodwin and Sir Tom McKillop, former chief executive and chairman of RBS, alongside Andy Hornby and Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, former chief executive and chairman of HBOS - the goal was to get the right clip, the apology, on the evening news.

So the sorries were fulsome, well-rehearsed and gave the appearance of being unconditional. It wasn't their first apology, they all added casually, because they had already apologised (in private) to shareholders. But they wanted the MPs to know that no-one should underestimate the scale of their contrition.

It was only halfway through the hearing that the rather more limited nature of their collective mea culpa became clear.

"We are apologising for what is happening to our business, and the key factor is the collapse of the wholesale money markets," said Lord Stevenson, who oversaw HBOS for eight years.

But what happened in the money markets wasn't their fault, couldn't have been predicted, wasn't predicted and was nothing to do with the state of the bank, stressed he and Mr Hornby - chief executive for the two years up to the bank's demise.

And on the awkward matter of the whistleblower who tried to flag up that the bank was taking excessive risks - and was later sacked? He was just, well, wrong, suggested Lord Stevenson.

John McFall, the committee chairman, summarised it succinctly: "What exactly are you apologising for? Are you expressing sympathy because your PR advisers tell you to?"

Missing the point, Mr Hornby replied: "We all take responsibility."

Right from the start, the excuses came thick and fast.

* Were the bankers conned into thinking low interest rates and cheap credit would last for ever? Lord Stevenson said that they were taking their cue from "regulators and world leaders" like Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

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