Rival firm PwC tried to use the same playbook of obfuscation, followed by escalating apologies and disasters. KPMG hasn’t learned from its mistakes.

Losing the trust of a client of 68 years in Lendlease was bad for KPMG’s leadership, but doing the same with its own partners is worse.

The move comes after a difficult parliamentary hearing which grilled several people connected to a growing scandal over the misuse of confidential client files.