Sir Michael Rake quits Barclays chairmanship race as investor activists turn up the heat SIR Michael Rake, the deputy chairman of Barclays, has withdrawn from the race to replace Marcus Agius, who resigned as chairman in the wake of the Libor-fixing scandal. The bank, which was hit with fines of £290 million following the affair, is also without a chief executive after the departure of Bob Diamond, who resigned along with chief operating officer Jerry del Missier at the start of the month. Rake has told Sir John Sutherland, the non-executive director leading the search for Agius" successor, that he did not want to be considered for the role. Rich Ricci, head of investment banking, is also thought to have ruled himself out of the running to replace Diamond. Naguib Kheraj, the former chief financial officer who is now a senior adviser to the bank, is seen as one potential internal candidate. In his temporary role as executive chairman, Agius will present the group's half-year results on Friday, when it is expected to report a 10 per cent increase in profits to £4 billion. Rake is also facing increasing pressure to step down from the board of budget airline easyJet, where he has been chairman since January 2010. Investor group ShareSoc said it backed a proposal from Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline's founder and largest shareholder, to remove Rake from his position in light of the "crucial positions" he holds elsewhere. As well as his roles at Barclays and easyJet, Rake is chairman of BT, a non-executive director of McGraw Hill and is a member of David Cameron's business advisory group. ShareSoc chairman Roger Lawson said: "Recent corporate scandals, such as the Libor rigging which Barclays is implicated in, demonstrate the clear need for truly independent and dedicated non-executives, and for such roles not to be simply "jobs for the boys.""