All eyes on the Bank’s weather-vane — this one could go to a recount

At last some excitement. The next vote is on Monday, and this one could go to a recount. All eyes will be on the weather-vane in the Bank of England’s Court Room, which shows its directors how the wind is blowing. Next door, in an elegant anteroom, the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee will have to decide whether interest rates should go up. This week in Washington, the Federal Reserve Board showed the way. Last month in London, the Committee voted 7–2 to wait and see, but the two in the minority were the two Bank directors who by the nature of their work are closest to the markets. Others may have preferred to hold their fire until the election was over — not that so worldly a motive would ever be reflected in the minutes. Since then the wind has been backing and filling. The steam has gone out of the market in houses, but prices are still running 7 per cent above where they were last year.