Christine Lagarde is stepping down as President of the European Central Bank in February next year, nine months before her term was due to end in October. The early exit gives EU leaders time to install a successor before next year’s French presidential election. Le Pen is in the lead…
Former Dutch and Spanish central bank governors Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernández de Cos are the frontrunners to replace her, while Lagarde is widely tipped for the World Economic Forum. She leaves in the middle of a rate-hiking cycle. The ECB is trying to stop the Iran war oil shock feeding through into wider prices while bond yields in debt-laden France skyrocket…
Robert Jenrick told a rally on Monday:
“They say Chancellors are either undertakers or bookies. This one is an ostrich – and when the Chancellor buries his head in the sand, the rest of us, we’re left staring at his you know what.”