Reuters scores exclusive interview with British rate-setter Andrew Sentance

Reuters interviewed British rate-setter Andrew Sentance in the same month he became the first UK policymaker to vote for a rate rise since August 2008. He was full of good angles — he said he would stick to his rate rise call as the government’s tough budget hadn’t changed his mind, the too-low pound was high in his thinking, and it was better to raise rates gradually from now. He also said there was a range of views at the Bank of England, not just that of Governor Mervyn King. The Tuesday June 29 interview helped propel the pound to a 19-month high against the euro. Sentance provoked days of public thrust and counter-thrust among his colleagues, suggesting some real divisions among Britain’s rate-setters and a new headache for King who, still scarred by his run-ins with previous member Danny Blanchflower, likes to run a tight ship.