Queen and country's economy
Feb 11 2010 by Iain Laing, The Journal
THE Queen has been urged to play an active economic role in helping to defend Britain against a future recession.
The proposal has come from a group of academics and economists who have written to the Monarch asking her to request from the cabinet office a monthly financial “horizon scanning“ summary.
Professor Peter Hennessy, a historian of government who helped draw up the letter, said: “She’s head of all the crown services and she’s in a position to ask for any bit of paper if she wants. If she asked for horizon scanning documents on possible economic and financial problems she would get it. It will sharpen everybody up if the Queen asks for this.” But the move was criticised by Republic, the anti-monarchy group, which described the idea as a “bad joke“.
At the height of the economic crisis in November 2008, the Queen asked during a visit to the London School of Economics – LSE – how, given the size of the financial problems, “everyone missed them“.
The academics first wrote to her last July when they attempted to answer her question and said they would be holding a forum to further examine the issue. In a written reply, her private secretary said the Monarch was interested in their project.
The group convened their forum in December and came up with the proposal of the Monarch taking up an economic role, looking ahead at possible problems.
In the letter sent to the Queen this week, the group wrote: “If you, your majesty, were to ask for a monthly economic and financial horizon scanning summary from, say, the cabinet office, it could hardly be refused.”
Graham Smith, spokesman for Republic, said: “This must be some kind of bad joke. The idea that the Queen is in a position to avert economic disaster is laughable.”
He added: “The British people and their government are responsible for our national economy. It is pitiful that intelligent and educated people are wishing for some maternal figure to take that responsibility from them.”
