Who decides the Bank's Committee?

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): In his 1992 memoir of his decade as part of Margaret Thatcher’s “core team” (six of those years as Chancellor of the Exchequer), Nigel Lawson includes the secret memo he wrote advocating that the Bank of England be made independent with respect to setting interest rates. Lawson writes that it “would be a far more useful constitutional reform than any advocated by Charter 88 and other constitution mongers”. Thatcher turned down the idea which, famously, Gordon Brown, assisted by Ed Balls, was to implement in a surprise announcement when Labour took office in 1997. I’ve always supported the view that this was a progressive move and not a surrender to the City. But it could strengthen parliament too - provided it has the power to approve or veto the independent members of the Monetary Policy Committee whom the Chancellor nominates. Yesterday, Brown made his last appearance before the Commons’ Treasury Select Committee and announced that the appointment process would become “more transparent”. He was promptly attacked by George Osborne for not going far enough. The Commons' Treasury Committee, Osborne argued, should be involved in “formal public scrutiny” of who is appointed. This seems pretty weak to me. Even Lawson foresaw the possibility of their being “subject to the Select Committee’s approval”. This is what matters if parliament is to become a force in the land, not creating a complicated process of nomination by the many. Let the Chancellor propose, but let the Commons committee dispose. It needs more real power.