Blair Says Bank of England Independence His Idea, Not Brown’s

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said giving independence to the Bank of England in 1997 was his idea, not that of his chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, who succeeded him as prime minister.

“When I suggested it, he readily agreed,” Blair, 57, wrote in his memoir “A Journey,” published by Random House today. “I allowed Gordon to make the statement and indeed gave him every paean of praise and status in becoming the major economic figure of the government. In truth, too, as with the Bank of England independence, the broad framework of the economy, never mind anything else, was set by me.”