Top officials back mum-of-nine Helena to run Bank of England
HEAVYWEIGHT backers have given a major boost to the chances of City ‘Superwoman’ Dame Helena Morrissey becoming the first female governor of the Bank of England in its 325-year history.
She emerged as a frontrunner this weekend after dramatically stepping down from her job running Legal & General’s personal investment business.
In an unusual move, MPs and former Bank officials lined up to praise the ‘fresh-thinking’ Brexiteer.
It follows The Mail on Sunday’s revelation last month that Dame Helena, 53, who earned her Superwoman nickname as a high-flying financier and mother-of-nine, had been interviewed to replace governor Mark Carney when he steps down in January.
Andrew Sentance, a former member of the Bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, called Dame Helena ‘an independent-minded and resilient person who has championed the role of women in the business world’.
He added: ‘She is an outsider in relation to the current central bank mafia. We need someone to bring fresh thinking to the Bank of England and I think she would do exactly that.’
Labour MP and Commons business select committee chairman Rachel Reeves, who was an economist at the Bank of England between 2000 and 2006, said of her time there: ‘There weren’t enough women in senior positions. If that is about to change, by putting a woman right at the top of the Bank, it would send a signal to financial institutions that they too need to appoint more women and close the gender pay gap.’
Tory MP Steve Baker, a member of the Treasury select committee and head of the European Research Group, said she would be an ‘outstanding candidate’.
Dame Helena, who is married to a Buddhist monk, is thought to have been one of nine candidates interviewed to succeed Carney. Other women thought to be contenders include Santander UK chairman Baroness Vadera and Dame Minouche Shafik, head of the London School of Economics.
Dame Helena leaves her job at Legal & General Investment Management on October 21. In a statement on Friday she said: ‘I see a changing Britain and have a lot of ideas and other things I want to achieve. I am looking forward to the next phase of my career at a time of great change and opportunity.’
The Treasury would not comment on the appointment process.