Next Bank of England Governor set to face first grilling from MPs

Canada’s central bank governor was Chancellor George Osborne’s surprise choice in November to succeed Sir Mervyn King, who retires at the end of June as Governor of the 318-year-old bank, nicknamed the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

Dr Carney, a 47-year-old former Goldman Sachs banker who studied at Harvard and Oxford, has a reputation for a tough approach to bank regulation and helping Canada avoid the worst of the financial crisis.

More recently he has stirred the UK policymaking establishment by appearing willing to consider a shift in how the central bank fights inflation.

What exactly Dr Carney will do differently to Sir Mervyn is unclear. For a start he will be just one of nine interest rate setters and he has so far confined himself to generalities rather than talking about the Bank itself.

That will change on Thursday when he is quizzed for three hours by a parliamentary committee from 9.45am.

The committee has said its main concern will be to “question Dr Carney on whether he thinks that there may be a better monetary policy for the UK than the current one”.

Independent reports last year criticised the Bank for being slow to act at the start of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, from which the economy has still not recovered, and of being burdened by an over-hierarchical management culture.

Dr Carney is also likely to face questions on bank regulation.