The RMT strike is a demonstration of what to expect in a Corbyn-McDonnell regime

It’s unusual for a Governor of the Bank of England to announce his next job before Downing Street has named his successor. In Mark Carney’s case, the new role turns out to be an unpaid, part-time one as the UN’s special envoy for climate action and finance, so no protocol has been breached — though the announcement will serve as a reminder to Chancellor Sajid Javid or whoever succeeds him to let the long–suffering Canadian escape his Threadneedle Street prison as swiftly as dignity allows after election day. What’s significant is the confirmation this news offers that ‘climate risk’ has moved into the mainstream of financial and corporate life. That shift was hailed last week at a seminar in the City’s Guildhall to launch Principles for Purposeful Business, a study published by the British Academy as part of its continuing work on ‘the future of the corporation’.

The eight principles enumerated under the provocative slogan ‘purpose before profit’ sought to address wider issues such as inequalities and ‘accountability to a range of stakeholders’, but speakers kept drawing the discussion back to climate change.