Mark Carney, and are asking questions about rate fixing in the Bank.
Often one is swayed by personality, in this case of the Canadian born Governor and I was impressed and convinced that not only is he on top of the job but that he is as, open a book as one can be in this important job.
The last Governor, Mervyn King, was a member of our Establishment, one of the old school, who one always felt behaved as if he was above the parliamentary committee and therefore seemed to be condescending in his reply's.
He was a master in obfuscation and batted questions away with the qualification of "a need to know what is the Banks business".
The new Governor is not old school, he is clear, although guarded because of the importance of what he says and gives confidence in his answers.
He was accompanied by a man, one of the old school and the contrast was palpable. The old school, squirm and search for ways around the question avoiding any suggestion that they can, at a later date be pinned down. Its a debating game and not an attempt to find a resolution.
I was impressed by Carney and felt he was on our side by which I mean he was not a club member saying one thing to the watching public whilst reserving the truth for the club members.
Its a characteristic of this country that a very high proportion of the countries Prime Minister come from one school, as do the bulk of the other members of the Party in Government. We are a 'class ridden' society and even given the suggestion that we have opened up some of the 'command positions' to others from lower back-grounds, we still contrive to accept that our betters know better.
It was refreshing to hear a man who, whilst very clever, had not been born with the disadvantage of growing up in the "hot house of exclusivity".
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