Mark Carney’s PA, a jealous husband... and their moment of truth on Jeremy Kyle
Governor denies ousting woman who aired dirty laundry on TV
THE rarefied sphere of monetary policy-making rarely finds itself mixed up with the prurient world of trashy daytime TV.
But The Mail on Sunday can today reveal that the secretary of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney lost her job with the venerable City institution – after she appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show
Jane Webster, who was Mr Carney’s senior personal assistant, went on the confrontational ITV show after her husband Mark accused her of cheating on him.
They aired intimate details of their marriage crisis to the programme’s 1.2million viewers – and Mrs Webster underwent one of the lie detector tests for which the show is notorious to prove she had been faithful.
Her paranoid husband even confessed to checking her dirty laundry for evidence that she had been having an affair – and Kyle did not hide his disgust at the lengths to which his jealous guest had gone.
The studio audience reacted with their usual shock and glee as the couple revealed all – but viewers
‘Snooty people took a dim view of this’
were not told that Mrs Webster held a senior post at the Bank of England’s Threadneedle Street headquarters.
However bosses at the City institution were less entertained when they discovered she had been on the show, which one critic once called ‘a tragic, self-serving procession of freaks, misfits, sad sacks and hopelessly damaged human beings.’
Within two months of her appearance on Jeremy Kyle last October, Mrs Webster was moved out of her PA’s job to a less high-profile role. By March this year, she had resigned altogether. She had been with the Bank since leaving school, and previously worked for Mr Carney’s predecessor, Lord Mervyn King.
The Bank last night said Mr Carney had nothing to do with Mrs Webster losing her job. His spokesman said: ‘Jane was not dismissed. There was a role for her within the Bank but she chose to leave of her own accord. She worked for the Bank for over 20 years and served, with distinction, two Governors, including the current one, who valued working with her.’
An insider said the Bank’s human resource department decided that Mrs Webster’s personal situation would be helped by her having a ‘less stressful role.’
However, another source said: ‘Jane is a lovely, hard working, popular girl at the Bank and had devoted her entire career to serving it. Snooty people at the Bank took a dim view of her going on the Kyle show. It was none of their damned business. It is their personal life and they did not involve the Bank in any way.
‘Jane and Mark are born and bred Londoners and live in a council flat. It is hard to imagine the Bank treating its executives in such a shoddy fashion.’
While the Bank’s bigwigs disapproved of Jeremy Kyle, friends of the couple say the show saved their 12-year relationship as it con- vinced Mr Webster of his wife’s fidelity. ‘Mark suspected she was cheating on him and he didn’t know what else to do,’ said one source. ‘They’re fine now.’
Mr Carney has been targeted by Brexit fanatics for warning of eco- nomic woe if Britain left the EU, and has clashed with Theresa May over quantitative easing. But he has been praised by many leading economists for his calm stewardship.
The Websters declined to comment last night.