Bank of England accidentally emails newspaper secret research on Brexit
The Bank of England accidentally emailed The Guardian news that it had created a task force to investigate the impact of the UK leaving the EU. The study is called Project Bookend and even included PR notes on how to deny its existence.
After the Guardian published the story, the BOE issued a hastily-written statement.
"Today, information related to planned confidential Bank work on the potential implications of a renegotiation and national referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union made its way into the public domain, due to an internal email sent inadvertently to an external party.
It should not come as a surprise that the Bank is undertaking such work about a stated government policy. There are a range of economic and financial issues that arise in the context of the renegotiation and national referendum.It is one of the Bank's responsibilities to assess those that relate to its objectives.
It is not sensible to talk about this work publicly, in advance. But as with work done prior to the Scottish referendum, we will disclose the details of such work at the appropriate time.
While it is unfortunate that this information has entered the public domain in this way, the Bank will maintain this approach."
The added irony is that Mark Carney is Mr. Transparency.
