Andrew Bailey’s inflation excuses have been exposed

This afternoon the Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey appeared, as he has done many times before, in front of the Treasury Select Committee to answer questions about its recent decision-making. Yet the tone of the Committee was radically different to other sessions. Its chair Mel Stride opened by asking Bailey if he and the Monetary Policy Committee – made up of nine members who vote to set interest rates – had been ‘asleep at the wheel’ as prices soared throughout the country. It was arguably one of the easier questions put to him during today’s session: from then on, Bailey and the MPC members who joined him were pit against each other. They were asked to explain when they realised the inflation tiger had escaped – and what they had individually done to put it back in its cage.

Bailey had nowhere to hide during this session: he was sitting between other MPC members who moved faster  than he did to increase interest rates and roll back money printing.