When a crisis or a scandal hits a high profile bank, such as recently happened with HSBC (and continues to happen), the board dismisses some of its senior managers. However, despite widespread calls for the resignation of the chair of the board, he refuses to go. When asked whether he should have taken responsibility, as the chair of the board and the leader of the organisation, Douglas Flint replied: ‘You bear responsibility but as part of a team.’

Does this ethos also apply in local government in times of a crisis? Is a leader always responsible if things go wrong?