The intriguing power struggle between Gordon Brown and Mervyn King has just heated up a few notches. Since (finally) securing his second term as Bank of England governor, King has been emboldened and is saying – in code – ‘no more of your funny games, Brown’. I blogged earlier about his assessment of Treasury spin. He has become more frank in his economic assessments, telling it how it is. Ditto his chief economist Charles Bean, who has compared the recent plunge in the pound to Black Wednesday. Now King is pushing for Bean to become his deputy, replacing the recently-departed Rachel Lomax.
This is all bad news for Brown, whose election strategy depends on spinning a fake economic narrative. It won’t do to be contradicted by the Bank of England, with two credible and independently-minded people at its helm. What to do?
Step One is to thwart Bean’s appointment, sending in some pliable City chap instead.
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