Diana Carney to level with George Osborne

Mark and Diana Carney come as a package

I see that the wife of the new governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is something of a left-wing firebrand. She doesn't take kindly to bankers who mess up, she promotes vegan ways and she is a supporter-cum-promoter of the Occupy movement. Just the sort of woman to make George Osborne wince when he goes into paradoxical statements about the economy.

It seems that public appointments now come with the appointed person's spouse and/or family members being given the once over to place them in a suitable position so that the media can speculate for ever in order to boost ratings and sales. Diana Carney is a godsend to them. My guess is though that had she not been so accommodating with her past glories, they may have been tempted to exaggerate a few of their own.

Justin Welby is going to be Archbishop of Canterbury with the media enthralled to know his father was a bootlegger and sometime confidante of John F Kennedy (in a non presidential way). Barack Obama has his aged Kenyan grandmother popping up with pearls of wisdom. Plus an array of relatives Obama didn't know he had.

However, I suppose it never has been any different. Billy Carter featured in Jimmy's life. Ronald Reagan had a few problems like that. John Major had his vaudeville dad, Tony Blair had a father-in-law with a colourful past and Margaret Thatcher had Denis, God bless him. Maybe having a spouse with opinions or a relative with a racy background is a help rather than a hindrance.

Diana Carney certainly appears to have views which may make George Osborne consider whether she is the best spouse in the world to be supporting the governor. She seems to have enough savvy to level with him in discussions about global financial institutions being “rotten or inadequate”. However, if his tenure as chancellor ends in ignominy, she might just be tempted simply to level him on our behalf.

Posted in: Diana Carney,George Osborne,Governor of Bank of England,Mark Carney