When he did so the following day, Ferdinand passed.Should the committee impose a fine, the backlash, particularly from Fifa, is likely to be unforgiving. If the committee rules that it is “refusal” rather than simple “failure” the penalties are likely to be extreme.Ferdinand’s legal team, led bythe QC Ronald Thwaites and Maurice Watkins, a United director and a solicitor, will claim he should be treated in the same manner as Negouai, who missed a test because he was picking his mother up from an airport. The penalties available to the three-man commission range from a fine, which was imposed on the Manchester City footballer Christian Negouai earlier this year, to a two-year ban. Then there is Manchester United, whose manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has already accused the FA of prejudging the case and targeting the club in order to “make a name for themselves”.Rarely have so many vested interests come together for one hearing. It is some minefield for Barry Bright, the 56-year-old retired estate agent who will chair the hearing, to tiptoe through over the two days it is expected to last.

At the heart of the matter is FA rule 3.5, “the failure or refusal by a player to submit to a drugs test as required by a competent official”. He suggested yesterday that, if the FA does not deal with Ferdinand with sufficient strength, it will be taken up by Fifa, who will impose their own penalties. The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, has said he finds the delays in bringing the United defender before a tribunal “extraordinary”. Almost three monthsafter the most publicised and certainly the most ill-advised shopping expedition to Harvey Nichols, the “trial” of Rio Ferdinand will finally crawl into court this morning.

“So far, sterling has been largely unaffected by the revaluation of the euro relative to the dollar,” they read. The MPC said retail sales and house prices were slowing and its regional agents had picked up anecdotal evidence retailers were disappointed by their November sales.Nick Stamenkovic, an economist at RIA bond brokers, said official retail sales figures today could confirm a weak month on the high street, following Tuesday’s figures showing prices rises on clothes were the smallest for a decade.”A hike in January seems off the agenda and while the markets are anticipating a move in February the data suggest they could wait even longer,” he said.”The consumer is living on borrowed time and is unlikely to be the powerhouse; investment is in the doldrums so it is difficult to see where the impetus for strong growth is going to come from.”. He said the latest news had been “almost uniformly in an upside direction”. “The news was not yet sufficient to justify another increase,” they said.Sir Andrew, the Bank’s deputy governor with responsibility for financial stability, put particular weight on the vulnerabilities caused by the continued rise of household debt.Last week he published the Bank’s Financial Stability Review, warning that a sudden drop in house prices and slump in consumer spending posed a threat to financial stability. In an unusually explicit statement of its policy stance, it indicated the question on rate rises was “when” rather than “if”.

Mr Green and other very rich businessmen such as property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, were some of the individuals Ms Saunders is said to have approached about stumping up the money to buy the principal finance business.The banker is believed to have managed to raise the necessary capital for the business. The Bank of England yesterday put homeowners and business on notice that it plans to raise interest rates again “at some point”. But WestLB decided it did not want to sell the entire business in one chunk.. Some £3.75m of that came from her personal stake in Pubmaster. She also received in the region of £1m in dividends from her stake in Philip Green’s Bhs chain. BoxClever may also be sold, as may the whisky maker Kyndal.Sources close to WestLB said the bank’s management had held cordial talks with its former rising star about her imminent departure. Ms Saunders is one of the wealthiest women in the City, having earned hefty bonuses from her deals at WestLB, including from stakes she has bought personally in companies the bank has invested in.