ABSTRACT
Today the Bank of England is one of the partners of the sector termed the 'monetary authorities'. The Bank manages the note issue, acts as banker to the government, other banks and many financial intermediaries and international organizations. It exercises monetary control as agreed by the monetary authorities, of which the Bank itself forms an important part. One of its crucial functions is that of lender of last resort to the discount houses, which gives the Bank influence over short-term interest rates. The personalities of the Governor of the Bank, together with that of his opposite number in the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is probably as good a guide as any to their influence at any one time. In the words of a former Governor, the Bank has 'the unique right to offer advice and to press such advice even to the point of nagging; but always, of course, subject to the supreme authority of the government'.
