After waiting for a long time, the staff of the Bank of England still did not wait for their governor, Sir Norman.

Because at this moment, Sir Norman is at No. 10 Downing Street, reporting to the Prime Minister, Mr. John Major.

No. 10 Downing Street, built in 1733, is connected to Whitehall Palace, the main residence of the British kings in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was originally used as a side room for servants who served cockfights. It has become the residence and symbol of the British Prime Minister.

Mrs. Thatcher said, "The most precious jewel in the nation's heritage!"

Well, that’s right, cockfighting is not exclusive to China. At least the British royal family also likes cockfighting, otherwise they wouldn’t have built a cockfighting ground specifically for cockfighting.

At this time, the British Prime Minister and First Chancellor of the Exchequer, who will be fifty years old next year, and the successor of the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister Major was wearing pajamas and nightcaps, his brows were furrowed and full of displeasure.

I don’t know if this displeasure is because someone woke me up from my sleeping bed in the middle of the night, or because the pound has been violently attacked?

Probably a bit of both.

"According to the latest news I have received, in the foreign exchange market in Wellington, New Zealand, our pound exchange rate has fallen by 800 basis points, and all signs prove that someone is deliberately suppressing the pound, and the person who did it was the one who had previously forced Finland to

Mark and lira withdraw from European exchange rate system

Financial giants, if we do not intervene effectively now, it is expected that the pound exchange rate will fall below the 2.7780 warning line before 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, which means a drop of 1,720 basis points or more." Norman.

Jazz said in a deep voice, but the anxiety in his eyes was beyond words.

The crisis facing the pound this time is unprecedented in his 40 years of working at the Bank of England.

And as the saying goes, a person's name is like a tree's shadow. They have already seen the cruelty and ruthlessness of these international financial giants in the Finnish mark and the lira. Otherwise, the presidents of eight major European banks would not have gathered together.

Go to the German Bank and ask the German Bank to cut interest rates.

Thinking of this, a trace of anger flashed in Sir Norman's eyes. If it hadn't been for those damn big heads and pickles who refused to cut interest rates, how could the pound have suffered such a disaster? He wouldn't have been woken up from his sleep in the middle of the night and then come back again.

Wake up Prime Minister Major.

There are many big countries on the European continent. Each country has a long history of grievances and resentments, and each country has a relatively developed culture. Therefore, various nicknames and even derogatory names are circulated among the countries, especially in the

The European Troika, between Britain, France and Germany.

The Germans were nicknamed "big heads" by the French because of their bulky helmets and slow reactions by war reporters, while the British called the Germans "sauerkraut" on the battlefields of World War II.

Southern Germany has the habit of making sauerkraut. The so-called famous German dish is "beer pork knuckle with sauerkraut."

However, good and evil will eventually be rewarded, and the way of heaven is reincarnation. If you don’t believe it, look up and see who God will spare.

The Germans were also unkind to the French and British. One was called "Six-week Lang" and the other was called "Monkey on the Island".

Naturally, Britain and France hurt each other. The French called the British "roast steaks," and the British thought the French were "frogs."

One probably thought that the British food culture was not the nightmarish fish and chips, but grilled steaks. The other laughed at a French king who liked to eat frog legs and had two frogs embroidered on his royal flag.

Legs.

And compared to the British, the French are too laughing and noisy.

In addition, the timing chosen by the financial giants this time was too cunning. They launched the offensive at night, when the whole of London was about to fall asleep, so that even if they wanted to deal with it, they were unable to do so.

After all, they can hold a meeting in the early morning, but they can't bring every reporter and media over in the early morning to announce specific countermeasures. Even they don't even have suitable traders now.

It can be said that they can do almost nothing before dawn tomorrow.

A deep sense of powerlessness struck Sir Norman.

Then, looking at Prime Minister Major who had not expressed his opinion after listening to his report and was still deep in thought, Sir Norman directed his full anger towards him.

In his view, the first culprit for the pound crisis is the financial giants, the second is the Germans, and the third is the man in front of him.

As the longest-serving British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool in the early 19th century, and also the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mrs. Thatcher has always been clearly opposed to the pound joining the European exchange rate system.

Mrs. Thatcher was a staunch opponent of European integration. It was also because of her different attitudes towards the Euro Union that during her third term as Prime Minister, Mrs. Thatcher had serious differences with her staff, which eventually emerged.

Disputes within the party.

In addition, the British economy was in recession in the early 1990s, and people were dissatisfied with the "poll tax" that made matters worse. Various factors combined to cause a fire in Mrs. Thatcher's backyard, just one month after the United Kingdom joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in October 1990.

, was forced to resign and left the British political arena for which she had fought for half her life.

Before leaving, Mrs. Thatcher once earnestly reminded the British how dangerous it was to give up fiscal sovereignty: "We are going to have... a unified currency that we have no control over at all, and we can't even decide the interest rates by ourselves.

?”

Unlike Mrs. Thatcher who firmly opposed European integration, John Major has always shown a strong interest in the European Union. Supporters represented by him are full of joy and high spirits, and are ready to make grand plans to revive the British Empire's economy.

.

But reality hit Prime Minister Major hard in the face.

After joining the European exchange rate system, the UK not only failed to benefit from this exchange rate system, but instead became a firefighter for small countries' exchange rates. And most importantly, because it was anchored by the mark, the pound wanted to lower bank deposit interest rates on its own and stimulate the economy.

Development is impossible.

Soon, the British Cabinet's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robin Pemberton, First Minister and Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Director of MI5, etc. came to No. 10 Downing Street from all directions.

Sir Norman had to give a detailed report on the latest information to Her Majesty's important ministers.

"The current situation is very bad. I hope you will come up with a solid plan that can save the pound exchange rate before Her Majesty the Queen gets up." Major knocked on the table twice and said with a gloomy expression.

For a prime minister like him who advocates the European exchange rate system and takes office based on it, the current situation has really given him a heavy blow.

Thinking of this, Major glanced subconsciously at Stella Rimington, the first female director of MI5 who he personally promoted.

MI5 is one of the most secretive intelligence agencies in the world. It has always carried out its work in extremely secretive circumstances and is not under the leadership of the government. Its name is not on the list of government departments.

In order to change the passive situation of the government in its command, he brought MI5 under the name of the government, and was responsible to the British Foreign Office for its operations, collecting intelligence for the government in handling security, defense, foreign affairs, and economic matters, and promoted

Rimington as director of MI5.

This heroine has indeed brought a new trend of reform to MI5. Under Rimington's operation, MI5 has begun to "come out from behind the scenes", and MI5, which has always been invisible, has gradually come into public view.

He really wants Rimington to arrest those damn financial giants one by one and hang them in front of him.

After a moment of silence, seeing that almost everyone was silent, Finance Minister Robin coughed slightly and said slowly and confidently: "I think the situation is not that bad, at least not as bad as we thought. At first

The rate of decline in the pound exchange rate is indeed worrying, but it has slowed down now, which shows that those greedy financial crocodiles do not have that much ammunition in their hands, and it also proves that the pound is strong and there is not much room for decline."

"I think after we fight back tomorrow, the exchange rate of the pound may go back. And even if it doesn't go back up, it has fallen a little, which is in our interests. After all, we have long wanted the exchange rate of the pound to come down a little bit." Robin.

Said somewhat optimistically.

As the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, he naturally understands finance, so he could tell at a glance that the Quantum Fund was weak in follow-up and would not be able to sustain it for long.

Of course, this is understandable.

After all, they are a large empire with more than 300 years of financial history and the creation of countless financial tools, methods and terms. They are not comparable to third-rate or second-rate countries like Finland and Italy.

Moreover, he felt that the successive battles had left those financial giants without much leverage.

Hearing this, Major's tense nerves suddenly relaxed. After he glanced at Robin approvingly, he asked the Foreign Secretary: "What is Germany's reaction? Do they agree to cut interest rates?"

As the saying goes, the person who untied the bell must tie the bell. The most important problem that triggered the attack by hedge funds this time was that the Germans were too selfish and refused to cut interest rates.

If interest rate cuts can be solved, then half of the pound crisis will be solved.

The Foreign Secretary shook his head and said: "They have the same idea as Robin. They think the situation of the pound should be relatively optimistic. Then they said that we need to ask Prime Minister Cole for instructions. They will give us an answer after going to work at ten o'clock tomorrow."

"

After saying this, the Foreign Secretary glanced at Robin, with a trace of disdain flashing in his eyes.
Chapter completed!