He went to see the Queen!

One part of the Mervyn King fiscal stimulus warning story that needs amplification is that it came at the same time that the Queen did something she had never done before; she held an audience with the Governor of the Bank of England, at Buckingham Palace. For half an hour she and Mervyn King were in a room alone as they discussed the state of the economy. No one else was there: no advisers, no officials, no one to take notes of what was said. And no one — not unless Mr King lets indiscretion get the better of him when he comes to write his memoirs — will ever know what they said to each other.

Maybe, let me dream for a minute, the Queen wanted a serious impartial assessment of the economy. Now she knows just how bad the situation is, maybe she is considering using one of her few remaining executive powers and forcing Gordon Brown to call a general election.



Yes I do get the joke of a King visiting a Queen, but prefer the implicit humour whenever Peter Mandelson meets the Queen.