The former chairman of the Co-operative Bank is being investigated by the police following a newspaper expose.

The Mail on Sunday published details of Paul Flowers seeking to buy drugs, including crystal meth and cocaine.

Flowers was the Co-op Bank’s chairman from 2010 until May 2013. He had a less than stellar appearance in front of the Treasury Select Committee earlier this month, when he was unable to say how much the bank had lent and what its asset base was.

The former Labour councillor is also a Methodist minister. The church has suspended him while it investigates the claims.