Next BOE Governor Must Have `Clean Hands,’ Blanchflower Says

Former Bank of England policy maker David Blanchflower said the next governor of the central bank should be someone with “clean hands” after recent banking- industry scandals appeared to have ruled out several candidates.

“We’re going to have to find somebody who is a manager and who has clean hands,” he said in an interview with Maryam Nemazee on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse” program. “It’s a big job.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne this month formally began his search to replace central bank governor Mervyn King, who steps down in June. Business Secretary Vince Cable said yesterday King’s successor must be someone “understanding the banking system but independent of it. ”

“A number of people whose names were in the hat who were on the betting list now look to have dropped away,” said Blanchflower, who is a Bloomberg Television contributing editor. “There are issues about people who were involved in the crisis.”

Blanchflower said the two top candidates for the job are Financial Services Authority Chairman Adair Turner and the former head of the U.K. civil service, Gus O’Donnell.

To contact the reporter on this story: Svenja O’Donnell in London England, at sodonnell@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net