The Bank of England will need steady hands to keep the country from recession

Editorial: Behind the reassuringly calm demeanour of the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, lies some worrying-looking spreadsheets

The economy will bump along the bottom this year (PA)

After the matinee panto performance of Boris Johnson as Pinocchio in the latest Westminster Palace of Varieties production, the Bank of England brings the nation back to reality with a bump – that is, another upwards bump to the mortgage and credit card bill.

The hike was a bit lower than expected – or feared – at a quarter percentage point to just 4.25 per cent, which if anything betrayed a little nervousness about the course of the real economy and the strains that the banking system is undergoing.

More than usual, and for factors mostly outside the Bank’s control, this is a difficult period in which to judge monetary policy. There are pronounced risks, as they say in central banking circles, to the downside for both prices and unemployment.