The harsh sunlight shone through the glass on Robin Leigh Pemberton's face, but although the sun was warm, he felt no warmth, as if his whole body had been drained of energy, and he had an indescribable exhaustion.

The empire once stood proudly on top of the world, the flag of the empire that never sets is planted in all corners of the world, and the colonies it owns even occupy one-third of the earth, and the Bank of England is also known as the most powerful central bank in the world.

The empire was so powerful back then, but now, the central bank has used tens of billions of pounds of foreign exchange to maintain the value of the currency at a rate hike of 5 percent, and it has achieved such a result.

Why, we didn't notice anything going on until then?

The unemployment rate increased by 6.8 per cent year-on-year in August......

London house prices fell by 6 per cent in August......

London, Treasury Building.

Norman Lamont looked at the statistical reports handed by his subordinates and the analysis of the consultants, and his face wrinkled slightly, like a bitter gourd beaten by frost.

The British economy can no longer withstand more pressure, but neither can the pound sterling.

To preserve the current economy, we need to implement loose monetary policy, which is simply a slow suicide for the current UK. If the pound is forced to withdraw from the ECU, the high tariffs will make Britain's exports uncompetitive throughout Europe, and at that time, Great Britain will only be able to watch other second-rate countries encroach on the British market.

This is the fortune of the country for a hundred years, and at that time, I am afraid that his wisest financial minister will be forever recorded on the cross of shame.

However, if we want to keep the exchange rate, we will need to tighten the monetary policy, but this will deal a serious blow to the domestic economy, and when the time comes, there is a good chance that he, the finance minister, will be thrown out of the way by the politicians.

After thinking about it for a long time, Norman Lamont couldn't come up with a complete solution.

He suddenly realized that it was the most stupid thing to compete with Christopher Francis Kashiten for the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer at the beginning, and if he deliberately resigned at that time, then the person facing this thorny problem today would be Christopher Francis Kashiten, and he might go to Hong Kong to make a lot of money.

The more I thought about it, the more depressed Norman Lamont became.

In early 1990, Christopher Francis Kashiwaten and two other cabinet ministers accused Margaret Thatcher of reforming monetary policy and urged her to resign. In November, the Conservative Party, led by his friend Sir John Major, won the general election unexpectedly.

The two had a good relationship, and Sir John Major and Christopher Francis Kashiwa agreed to hire him as Chancellor of the Exchequer if he could keep his seat in the House of Commons after he took office.

As a result, Christopher Francis Patten lost his seat in the House of Commons in the Bath constituency and was forced to withdraw from the seat and was sent to Hong Kong by Sir John Major to serve as the Governor of Hong Kong, with Norman Lamont becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer.

At that time, Norman Lamont was very excited about this.

Chancellor of the Exchequer...... The business and banking circles have to rely on their noses, and in the future, they will certainly be able to make a lot of money.

But in recent years, he has discovered that it is actually more profitable to go to the colony to be the boss in the round to make money.

That guy Hodd, a mere chief secretary can only be regarded as the second follower of the governor of Hong Kong, and he has made a lot of money in Hong Kong, and the equity he holds in the Li Chengcheng family alone is enough for that bastard to enjoy his old age in peace, plus the huge cash dividends of the major associations every month, he is like God.

He, the Minister of Finance, seems to have unlimited scenery, but now, the benefits are not even comparable to Huo De, let alone the cypress vine who is the emperor of the soil in Hong Kong, he must be full of money, and when the time comes, he can be awarded a knighthood by the queen.

That guy from Major must be scolding me, and that bastard from Kashiwato must be waiting to see my jokes.

Thinking of the past, Norman Lamont suddenly wanted to get drunk.

He deeply suspected that Christopher Francis Kashiten had deliberately failed and waited for him to come as Chancellor of the Exchequer to dig a hole for him.

Let's hope that bastard Kashiwato can bleed once this time.

Bell Bell Bell –

The phone on the desk rang suddenly, and the damn ringing of the phone made Norman Lamont feel bad, he really had enough of the damn calls.

"Norman. It's me, I'm sorry, we failed. Now we have only 200 million left, but the price of the pound is now stuck below 2.75. ”

“......”

The sound coming out of the earpiece made Norman Lamont's face turn pale.

Although he had long since considered that Britain might be forced to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, and had made corresponding hedging measures, when this moment happened, he realized that this was the last thing he wanted to see.

If Britain withdraws from the European Community, it will not be long before his political life is completely ruined.

Lamont could feel his hands and feet a little cold, even colder than under a winter blizzard, no matter what, this country was the country that gave birth to him, and by any measure, it was the worst outcome.

But what can be done now, the most important thing is how to deal with the current situation.

In order to protect the pound exchange rate, the central bank has raised interest rates twice in a row and invested tens of billions of pounds to protect the pound.

You can't have it both ways, since you have chosen to keep the pound from the beginning, the best option now is to continue to protect the pair.

Lamont sat down in his chair for a while with a cigarette, felt his body regain a little warmth, picked up the phone and dialed his boss, saying that if he wanted to keep the current pound, he would have to raise interest rates again and borrow a large amount of money, both of which needed the permission of John Major, the prime minister and first chancellor of the exchequer.

Westminster, 10 Downing Street.

This building, which has a history of more than 200 years, has been the residence of the Prime Minister since the post of First Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister were held by the same person. The simple design of the black wooden door, decorated with the white Arabic numeral "10", has become a well-known symbol.

In addition to the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister's Office, the Prime Minister's secretaries, assistants, and advisers all work in the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister works with his cabinet and think tanks at 10 Downing Street every day to set policy, and the general confidential departments, the Parliament, the Treasury and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are only minutes away from 10 Downing Street, so the Prime Minister has easy access to information and contact.

Buckingham Palace, where the monarch lives, is nearby, so that the Prime Minister can visit Buckingham Palace regularly to report to the monarch. There are different meeting rooms and dinner halls in the Prime Minister's Residence, where the Prime Minister often meets with leaders from all walks of life and countries.

As such, Downing Street 10 is the heart of the British government and one of the core powers of British politics.

Interestingly, when it was the First Chancellor's Mansion more than 100 years ago, many of the previous Chancellors of the Exchequer were reluctant to live here because it was too small and built on swampy land, and even wanted to raze it to the ground.

As the prime minister of a country, John Major's work is naturally extremely busy, not to mention this crisis moment when the stock market, bond market, and foreign exchange market are facing three kills.

When Norman Lamont called, May was discussing with advisers, cabinet members, and think tanks how to solve all the problems at hand.

"Lord Major. We're sorry that our market intervention failed. ”

This was not shocking news, and Major had known the result before Lamont's call.

"So what do you think we should do now? ”

"I feel that we may need to borrow more money to maintain the price of the pound. ”

“......”

With the hands-free on, Major solicited advice from his staff and cabinet members

"What do you think? ”

None of the guys present were human spirits, they glanced at each other and reached an agreement in an instant.

"I think His Excellency Lamont's advice is correct, but the problem is that there are not many people who can help us and lend us money. ”

"In the Asian market, only I have the ability to help us, and we can ask the Ministry of Finance for help. ”

"I object, judging from the intelligence of the Financial Investigation Bureau, that Shen Jiannan should be himself, and his real name should be Akiyama Jiannan, I think his attack on the pound is likely to be instructed by the Ministry of Finance. ”

"I agree with Poppy's judgment on why there is so much pound selling in the Asian market? Think about it, who else in the world can come up with so many pounds?"

Kevin is right, in the entire Asian market, the only one who can come up with so many pounds is himself. We can't go to them to borrow money, because we're only going to be humiliated. ”

“......”

“......”

"Neither can the French, those bastards want to see us unlucky, and if we go to them to borrow money, we will be humiliating. ”

“.......”