Inside the Bank of England (BBC2, 9pm, Tuesday) ****
FEW institutions guard their privacy as fiercely as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, and no wonder. On her every move markets and governments wait. Discretion is the Bank of England’s watchword, secrecy a large part of her power. Why, then, invite the television cameras in?
This was the first of many questions that waited patiently at the margins as we watched men and women, but mostly men, stride along corridors clutching papers, or sit around tables discussing documents. It should have been fearfully dull, an episode of The Office minus the gags, but Rob McCabe and Emily Blunt’s film was anything but tedious. This, the first of two 90 minute instalments, was fascinating - as much for what it did not say as what it did.
READ MORE: Closures reach record levels
Filmed April-May, 2018, Inside the Bank of England followed the run up to the setting of the UK interest rate. Would it rise, be cut, stay the same? Data was crunched, analysis considered and reports compiled, some of them from bank agents across the country who speak to businesses, agencies, charities, and other bodies to take the economic temperature. In the end, it would come down to the nine member Monetary Policy Committee, chaired by the bank governor, Mark Carney. The MPC opted for no change.
The smooth Canadian was among several senior talking heads. He gave nothing away, until a reporter asked if the Governor was worried about being stuck with the tag of “unreliable boyfriend”. Paisley-born MP Pat McFadden had attached the label because of the Mr Carney’s tendency to hint that rate rises were coming, only to back down. “The only people who throw that term at me are in this room,” said Mr Carney. He was smiling, but his lips had not passed the message on to his eyes.
READ MORE: FTSE dips after warning
Down in the vaults, chief cashier Victoria Cleland showed us “Titans”, the notes, each one worth £100 million, that underwrite the value of Scottish and Northern Irish pounds. Very pretty they were, too. The cameras had a nosey around the office of one MPC member, Ian McCafferty. Mr McCafferty was a collector of cartoons and proudly showed off his favourite: two men on a desert island, one saying to the other, “No, no, no, no. First we will stabilise the money supply then we’ll signal the ship.” Cut to Mr McCafferty chuckling as if he had just seen it for the first time. Definitely one where you had to be there.
There was a tour around the “parlours”, the rooms where the governor and his deputies have their private offices. With their silk wallpaper and Chippendale furniture, these are the places where the high and mighty come to dine. “It is like coming through to Narnia,” said Alison McLean, manager of the parlour team. McLean, McCafferty - almost everyone in the film seemed to have a Scottish surname, even if they did not have the accent. Perhaps it is a condition of service, something to add to the reassurance the Bank is there to exude.
READ MORE: Chaos in Strasbourg
Boosting confidence was, in the end, what the film was all about. Politicians might be running around like decapitated chickens over Brexit, was the subtext, but stay calm, your money is safe with us. This was a documentary that managed to steer clear of politics, but next week’s instalment, dealing with the preparations for Brexit, will not have that option. It is then that we will see the Bank and its staff coming under real pressure to prove their worth, and their independence. Not to be missed.
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