Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has waived a £1.4 million share reward on the grounds that it would not be appropriate to take them on top of his salary. His decision came as Stephen Hester, the taxpayer-owned bank’s chief executive, came under pressure to turn down the £963,000 bonus that RBS confirmed yesterday he would receive on top of his £1.2 million salary. David Cameron was attacked from all sides yesterday for failing to rein in Mr Hester’s bonus. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minster and Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, have all challenged the award. Today Mr Cameron said that it was for Mr Hester to decide whether to accept his bonus, adding that to install a new team to lead RBS would be far more expensive than the current arrangement. The row comes shortly after Mr Cameron promised to crack down on runaway executive pay. The Government has also urged shareholders to be more active in bearing down on large awards. Sir Philip has told the bank’s remuneration committee that it would not be appropriate to receive the 5.17 million shares, which he was due to receive later this year, on top of his salary. A source from within the bank said that Sir Philip had decided to decline the award because it was a “golden hello promised to him when he joined RBS and not for work since carried out”. While Sir Philip made the decision to give up the shares some

The body of a woman has been found in the wrecked Italian cruise ship, Costa Concordia as salvage crews preparing to pump thousands of tonnes of diesel fuel and oil were forced to suspend work due to bad weather. Italy’s civil defence organisation said divers were recovering a woman’s body found on deck six in the submerged part of the vessel. Fifteen people remain missing. Authorities said another woman, whose identity had not previously been released, was German passenger Inge Schall. The Costa Concordia ran aground January 13 on rocks with some 4,200 people aboard and is lying on its side off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Of the 17 bodies found, 15 have now identified. The victims are five Germans, four French people, three Italians, a Hungarian, a Spaniard and a Peruvian. Heavy seas and strong winds are hampering work on removing more than 2,300

Four journalists from The Sun newspaper and a serving police officer have been arrested over payments to police officers. All five were detained under Scotland Yard’s Operation Elveden, the inquiry set up after detectives were handed documents suggesting that News International journalists had made payments to officers. The four journalists, are all senior “current and former employees from The Sun”, said News Corporation in a statement. They were detained after police raids at their homes, said Scotland Yard. Sources named them as Mike Sullivan, Graham Dudman, Fergus Shanahan and Chris Pharo. Mr Sullivan, 48, a long-serving and respected crime reporter, Mr Dudman, 48, a former managing editor, and Mr Shanahan, 56, who also held an executive post, were arrested at their homes in Essex and north London. All five men were later bailed by detectives, S