With UK inflation hitting double digits, the most in over 40 years and the highest in the G7 group of large economies, the Bank of England is in the line of fire from politicians and economists.
The UK’s central bank was granted independence 25 years ago with the brief of maintaining inflation at 2 per cent. But now there are questions around whether the officials in Threadneedle Street have lost control.
The team surrounding Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss is pointing the finger of blame at Andrew Bailey, the BoE governor, and his monetary policy colleagues. In the words of Kwasi Kwarteng, favourite to be the next chancellor: “If your target for inflation is 2 per cent and you’re predicting 13.3 per cent, something’s gone wrong.”