Bank of England chief Andrew Bailey ‘looking forward’ to serving for another four years
Andrew Bailey has vowed to stay on for the duration of his eight-year term despite several calls for his resignation.
In an upbeat interview in the wake of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to cut the Bank Rate for the first time since March 2020, the Governor of the Bank of England cut a defiant figure after a challenging first four years.
“It is a great privilege to serve as Governor and to have led the UK’s central bank through the pandemic, the – sadly – continuing war in Ukraine, and dealing with their consequences for inflation,” Bailey told The Mail on Sunday.
“But there is still a lot of work to be done. I absolutely intend to serve my full term. I’m very much looking forward to the next four years.”
The Governor’s remarks come after a chequered first half of his term as the Bank’s most senior official, in which he was heavily criticised for raising interest rates too slowly at the onset of the war in Ukraine when prices started to creep up.
In 2022, Bailey – who takes home £495,000 a year – also earned himself a rebuke from Downing Street and former MPC members after asking workers not to request a pay rise to aid the fight against inflation.
Meanwhile former Prime Minister Liz Truss has criticised the Bank for failing to foresee the LDI crisis of October 2022, when, after Truss’ fateful mini budget, the central bank was forced to purchase £20bn of government bonds to prevent a full blown financial catastrophe.
Bailey’s latest vow to serve for his full term has also raised eyebrows in some corners of the City.
Roger Gelwolb, the founder of the Campaign for Fair Finance and a former adviser to the Bank, told City A.M.: “Bailey always does the same thing. He waits too long and doesn’t act… He waited until December 2021 to raise interest rates once and then dumped 14 interest rate rises on us which anyone with a basic grasp of economics will know was the wrong call.
“Bailey has fuelled the cost-of-living crisis and ruined the lives of tens of millions of people through raising mortgage rates, and now is going to stay at the watering hole for another four years.”
But the Governor has ridden out the most acute period of criticism and – having cast the deciding vote in this week’s decision to cut the interest rate by 25 basis points – appeared more bullish on the prospects for the UK economy than the new Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
He said: “We talk to people and businesses up and down the country every day. For some time, the cost of living for households and the costs of production for businesses have been the number one concern.
“Inflation has fallen a lot over the past 18 months, so I hope those concerns will begin to fade. It’s our job to make sure they do.”