The dangerous Tory attacks on the Chancellor and Mark Carney are nuts

Anyone hoping for a measure of national unity after the EU referendum seems destined for perpetual disappointment. Hardline Leavers scream betrayal whenever compromise is mooted and attack so-called Remoaners for their ceaseless negativity. Moderate Leavers despair at the wilder demands of the Hard Brexiteers, but look in vain for an accommodation with Moderate Remainers. Get stuffed say Moderate Remainers: you Brexit, you broke it, you own it. Meanwhile, between crying about the price of Marmite, Hardline Remainers have reinvented themselves as the guardians of parliamentary sovereignty. This is a welcome development on the whole but the new sovereignty warriors, the recovering Remainers, seemed a lot less concerned about the rights of parliament back when they were over several generations handing away parliament’s power to the supra-national EU. Everyone is falling out with everyone else when what was needed – an understanding between the majority of moderate Leavers and moderate Remainers to get a good deal – has not been forthcoming.

What a mess, and I haven’t even mentioned the government‎…

There the Chancellor’s resignation has been mooted, then denied. Philip Hammond stands accused by unnamed colleagues of “acting like an accountant” (kind of his job). In cabinet committees he’s being blunt about the obstacles, apparently. Number 10 has had to reassure Mark Carney, the BoE Governor, that he is still wanted after the Prime Minister criticised his policies in her speech to Tory conference. Inside the cabinet there are rows over migration policy and concerns that Theresa May’s wizard wheeze to appoint three Brexiteers (Boris, Fox and Davis) is turning out not to have been so clever after all. When the government needs one person in charge of Brexit, reporting to the Prime Minister, there are competing departments and a row over the status of the Treasury.

In such a febrile atmosphere, attacks by certain Tories who should know better (but do not) on the Chancellor of the Exchequer and on the Governor of the Bank of England are hugely entertaining from a journalistic perspective. From a national point of view they are stupid in the extreme. One has to wonder about the brainpower of those politicians who are at it, or at least wonder if they know any history.

Even in normal times a war on a Governor of the Bank of England is not a good idea. It rarely ends well for anyone. Equally, undermining and/or removing a Chancellor (Nigel Lawson, Norman Lamont, Alistair Darling) is a recipe for turmoil, bad blood and poor policy made in anger or retreat. Trying both at once, as some hardline Brexiteers seem to want to do, is the equivalent of playing with a flamethrower in a petrol station.

A lot of this is about symbolism. The roles of Chancellor and Governor are the twin cornerstones of British economic policy, and those who operate in the markets place great store in notions of confidence and relative stability. Brexit is disruptive enough (and I say that as a Leaver) without adding in a BoE and Treasury institutional meltdown that could have further consequences in the international foreign exchange markets and bond markets.

The UK punches above its weight in the international financial system because the City of London is a genuine global hub, meaning the UK government and central bank are among those watched by investors and analysts for signals. The solidity of the Bank of England and the Treasury, along with the legal system, are a guarantor for international investors that this is a place where the authorities broadly know what they’re doing. If the idea takes hold that the Chancellor is heading for resignation and the Governor is facing the sack and a premature return to Canada – all cheered on by a small band of jeering Tory MPs in bad pinstripe suits – then the UK will be marked down just when reassurance is needed.

Ah… we love it, say Hardline Remainers, keep it coming because it proves that Brexit will be a disaster, and then the humbled English public will apologise to London, Remain columnists and Scotland and plead to abandon leaving the EU. That is as daft and destructive a position as that of the most hardline Brexiteers. If you want a revolution, as Remainer Dan Hodges put it at the weekend, or at least a march of millions of voters on London, then the best way to spark it is to deny Brexit. Britain is leaving the EU in the next two to three years. There are a number of ways to do it. Nicely, or not so nicely. The discussion should be on how it can be done without more disruption than is necessary.

None of this is to say that either Mark Carney or Philip Hammond are beyond being held to account or criticised in reasonable terms. The Chancellor’s speech at Tory conference was not good enough. The Governor and the BoE appear to have over-reacted in the weeks after the EU referendum. The surging money supply caused concern among some economists and the rate cut looks like a mistake. The object of policy was devaluation, to boost exports and import some inflation, but it overshot. But in fraught circumstances it is hardly susprising if Carney and his colleagues thought it was better to try to do too much rather than too little. It is difficult work at a difficult time, and it will be more difficult for the prosperity of the entire country if the destruction of a Chancellor and Governor ensues this winter.

That being the case, any Tory MP, minister or rogue advisor who feels like musing on all this on television, can I politely suggest you think of your country and shut the hell up?