Given at the Lord Mayor's dinner to the bankers and merchants of the City of London on 19 October 1978.
This dinner is traditionally an occasion for stocktaking. The Chancellor has followed that tradition by setting his account of our present position in the context of five arduous years in his present office. I propose likewise to follow precedent, but-the hazards to which Governors are subject being different from those which confront Chancellors-I will try to look beyond present events to a longer-term perspective. I am persuaded to this course by the conviction that the true significance of monetary policy and exchange rate policy is to be ·seen in their medium-term effects and that in the medium to long term there is a close relationship between these apparently purely financial matters and the industrial health of our economy. Taking a longer look, it is in this latter area that the country is confronted with obstinate and deep-seated problems. I think people sense that we must face up to them much more seriously.
Governors speeches given to the bankers and merchants of the City of London