It will be surprising if NatWest’s Howard Davies hasn’t gone by Christmas

Howard Davies is staying on at NatWest to ensure ‘stability’ but will he want to go in the autumn, or at least have his successor named by then? Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

NatWest’s last boardroom announcement was blown apart within eight hours, so Sir Howard Davies should probably wait until the end of the weekend before feeling safe in the post of chair. Life can move quickly at a 39% state-owned bank when Nigel Farage is on the prowl.

Davies has probably escaped the need for an instant resignation only by virtue of the fact that he was going anyway. Plan A, which pre-dates the Coutts fiasco, was for him to leave by July next year for the conventional reason that his nine-year term will be up at that point. An obvious strategy now would be to accelerate the timetable and get out as soon as is practical.