# What can Canada expect from its next PM? The Mark Carney I knew

In his seven years as Bank of England governor, Carney was charming and self-confident but had a volcanic temper

## Introduction
Mark Carney arrived in the UK with a reputation as the rock star central banker and was quite the contrast with his predecessor King. Carney quickly became something of a celebrity. That was not really for what he did but for how he looked.

## Content
When Carney was appointed by the then chancellor, George Osborne, it was pre-Brexit, pre-Trump, pre-Covid and pre-Ukraine war. A liberal globaliser, Barack Obama, was president of the US, and a liberal globaliser, David Cameron, was prime minister of the UK. Times have changed.

In 2025, liberal globalisers are far thinner on the ground and those that remain now talk the language of populists. The Carney I knew was a smart man who worked ferociously hard, but had a central banker's caution when it came to public statements. His answers to questions often went on for several minutes, making them pretty much unquotable, as I found out the first time I interviewed him. Given a 30-minute slot, I realised after 25 minutes that he had said nothing that would remotely make a news story. The new governor’s views about the UK housing market eventually did the trick in the nick of time.

The verbal obfuscation was quite deliberate and Carney could deliver a crisp soundbite when he thought the moment warranted it. The classic example of that came on the morning of 24 June 2016 – the day after the UK’s Brexit referendum. Britain had voted to leave the EU, Cameron had announced he was stepping down as prime minister, and the pound was in freefall.

Carney thought Brexit a bad idea but knew that at that moment the markets needed reassurance. Standing behind a lectern at the Bank of England, he duly provided it. Showing he can keep a calm head in a crisis should stand him in good stead in his new job.



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