Barclays chief Jes Staley faced down angry investors and calls for his resignation at a spiky annual general meeting today, which was disrupted by climate protesters taking to the stage to call on the bank to stop support for dirty industries.

Shareholders challenged the bank's top bosses on the lender’s under-performance, past misconduct, and bungled overhaul of its Smart Investor stockbroking platform at the event at the QEII Conference Centre in Westminster.

However Barclays’ highest profile new investor – the corporate raider Ed Bramson, whose vehicle Sherborne has built up a more than 5pc stake in the firm ahead of an expected campaign to overhaul its investment banking unit – was not seen...