Carney 'did a terrible job' as Bank of England governor, says former British PM

Lizz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, said Mark Carney did “a terrible job” as the Bank of England’s governor and blamed him for “a lot of the problems” that led to her quick departure from 10 Downing Street in 2022, even though he’d resigned two years earlier. She also said Canadians “need to wake up” to the threats that he and Liberal policies present. Speaking on U.S. podcaster Glenn Beck’s show on March 22 , the former Conservative Party leader was reflecting on her resignation from office after 49 days amid an economic crisis sparked by a mini-budget with big tax cuts and promises of increased borrowing that her government rolled out to address the rising cost of living. Carney, who’d led the central bank from 2013 to 2020, came up as Truss was calling out the “network node” of people who “forced” her to undo the measures, which had caused the U.K. pound to drop to its lowest-ever rate against the U.S. dollar. Asked about the World Economic Forum, she said it’s a “breeding ground” for those types — “people who believe in … wokeism, environmental extremism, big government, high taxation” — and labelled Carney a “regular.” “Mark Carney was the governor of the Bank of England who printed money to a huge extent, creating inflation,” she said, referencing the policymaker’s decision to reactivate a money printing programme in response to Brexit-related risks it had publicly warned about. “He was the one who created the pensions crisis in the first place by not regulating the pensions industry properly,” she suggested. Days after the disastrous mini-budget, a massive sell-off of government bonds threatened long-driven investment (LDIs) funds and forced the Bank of England to save the U.K. pension fund from collapse with a massive purchase program. She went on to suggest that Carney is among the cohort who “move in and out of the financial sector” and don’t believe in actually representing the interests of the electorate. “They fundamentally believe that government should be run by experts who know best, which is them and their friends. They do not believe that democracy is a bottom-up thing.” Later in the show, Beck turned the conversation back to Canada by asking Truss what happens to Canada under Carney. She admitted to being “puzzled” by his rise to power within the Liberal party without being elected, something she feels is “illegitimate.” “He did a terrible job in Britain of the governorship of the Bank of England. He created a lot of the problems that blew up on my watch, and that I got blamed for were actually created by him.” In her view, “woke policies, high taxes, high spending,” and an unwillingness to use natural resources have caused European economic growth to fall behind the U.S., and Justin Trudeau caused similar issues in Canada. “Mark Carney has been the advocate of these policies, so I don’t know what is going on in Canada, but in the same way as I think people in Britain need to wake up to what the real threat to our country is, I think they need to wake up in Canada.” With election day approaching on April 28, Carney was campaigning in Toronto on Thursday. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.