Eddie this and Eddie that
RELATIONS between Chancellor and Gov- ernor are tense. Their honeymoon began when Mr Brown gave the Bank of England powers to set interest rates, and ended when he took away its powers to do much of what it does now. The details are being argued out amid muttered complaints about breach- es of trust. Mr Brown's news managers have been no help. Conspiracy theorists say that Mr George has been stuck with the unpopu- lar but necessary task of raising interest rates, and when he has done that he can go. I, though, am a cock-up theorist, having seen so many of them. One of them will presum- ably teach Mr Brown what can happen to Chancellors in markets. Hearing the IMF call the pound `unsustainably strong' would then be the least of his worries, and he would need all the professional help he could get. As Kipling so nearly put it:
Oh, it's Eddie this, and Eddie that, and Eddie, go away, But it's 'Thank you, Mr Governor' when the band begins to play.
Mr Brown should add this to his holiday reading, together with the Michelin Guide to South East London.
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