Sunak skipped regular meetings with Bank of England chief
Rishi Sunak is slammed over allegations he skipped regular meetings with Bank of England chief
- Former chancellor didn’t hold weekly meetings with Bank of England when in job
- Nadhim Zahawi reinstated meetings with Andrew Bailey, head of central bank
- Rishi Sunak has based his campaign for PM on vow to battle soaring inflation
- ‘I can’t imagine what he thought was more important’, a Whitehall source said
The former chancellor came under fire last night as it emerged he failed to hold weekly meetings with the governor of the Bank of England when in the job.
Rishi Sunak has based his campaign to be Tory leader on a vow to grapple with soaring inflation pushing many families to breaking point.
But sources told the Daily Mail that when he was in charge of the nation’s finances, he did not hold weekly sessions with Andrew Bailey, head of the central bank.
The former chancellor came under fire last night as it emerged he failed to hold weekly meetings with the governor of the Bank of England when in the job
Mr Sunak’s successor Nadhim Zahawi has privately let it be known that he made it a priority to reinstate the regular get-togethers. Mr Zahawi is said to believe holding the meetings is important to deal with the issues posed by soaring inflation.
However Mr Sunak’s allies insisted he spoke to the governor ‘as frequently as economic developments justified’.
Last night he was urged to explain what he was doing that was more crucial than seeing Mr Bailey. A Whitehall source told the Mail: ‘I can’t imagine what he thought was more important.’
One Liz Truss-backing Tory MP said: ‘It’s very disturbing to learn Rishi stopped holding regular meetings with the governor. He really does need to let us know why.’
A spokesman for the governor declined to comment on his diary.
A source close to Mr Sunak said: ‘Weekly meetings only make sense if the economic landscape has altered materially from one week to the next – otherwise they just become meetings for the sake of it and encourage talk at the expense of action.
‘Rishi and Andrew spoke or met as frequently as economic developments justified rather than being dictated to by arbitrary calendar invites.’
Source: Read Full Article