Picking the next Bank of England Governor

Treasury questions is one of the more entertaining spectacles on offer in the Commons. There’s the standard banter between George Osborne and Ed Balls – today we saw the Chancellor dub his opposite number ‘the member for Unite west’, with Ed Balls noting in his reply that at least he’d only been heckled by a few trade unionists rather than the entire Olympic stadium. There were new ministers to welcome too: Greg Clark received such a warm cheer that he joked he felt ‘like Boris Johnson’.

But the centrepiece of the session was – along with the confirmation that the Autumn Statement will take place on the rather wintery date of 5 December – George Osborne’s announcement about the appointment of the next Bank of England governor. He said:

‘I can tell the House today that the appointment of [Sir Mervyn King’s] successor will be conducted through a fair and open competition.