The pound has not collapsed. You can still trade shares, bonds and currencies in the City of London. And inflation, while still high, at least doesn’t come with ‘hyper’ as a prefix, at least not yet. If the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey wants to celebrate today’s fifth anniversary of taking charge of the UK’s central bank he can at least reflect on a few modest achievements. The trouble is, they are very limited. In reality, Bailey has proved a poor if not catastrophic Governor – and everyone in the City knows it.
When Bailey took over, he was the antithesis of his predecessor. The globe-trotting Mark Carney, who this week added Prime Minister of Canada to his already impressive CV, was a ‘rock star central banker’ with a reputation for big, bold reforms, willing to take controversial stances on issues such as climate change and Brexit. Bailey by contrast is a low-key technician who has spent his entire career in financial regulation.
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