The United Kingdom, ‘Operation Bookend’ & One Epic Whoopsie


In a colossal internal communications whoopsie, the United Kingdom’s equivalent of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, inadvertently let an email slip revealing possible plans for an exit from the European Union. The news hit the headlines just a few days after the country’s general election saw Prime Minister, David Cameron re-elected to remain in number 10 Downing Street.

The email detailed how a small group of executives at the bank were requested by deputy director of financial stability, Sir Jon Cunliffe, to research the potential after-shocks of the controversial move. NPR.org reported that the sensitive information was sent by the bank’s head of press, Jeremy Harrison, to four directors, but also found its way into an email inbox belonging to a Guardian editor.

Several United Kingdom-based reporters agreed that it was one hell of a “slip of the finger”…

The Guardian Published details of how the United Kingdom bank’s monetary assessment and strategy division head, James Talbot, was addressed in the correspondence. He was enlisted to work on the so-called “Operation Bookend” due to his experience as an adviser on European economic policy.

“Jon’s proposal, which he has asked me to highlight to you, is that no email is sent to James’s team or more broadly around the Bank about the project.”

The idea was to keep the project under wraps, with the email stating

“James can tell his team that he is working on a short-term project on European economics in International [division] which will last a couple of months. This will be in-depth work on a broad range of European economic issues. Ideally he would then say no more.”

A strategy was also outlined with a view to fend off questions from the media with the suggestion being made to say:

“That there is a lot going on in Europe in the next couple of months – pointing to some of the specific European economic issues (eg: Greece) that would be of concern to the Bank.”

It also read that it was “not sensible” to talk about the information publicly in advance.

Europe, which is home to the Eurovision Song Contest among many other delights, will see a United Kingdom referendum held in 2017 to determine whether or not it will continue its membership of the European Union.

Currently, the United Kingdom is one of a total of 28 states in the European Union, although maintains its own currency and is not part of the ‘Eurozone’, the official term for the areas to have adopted the Euro (€).

What do you think of the embarrassing slip and what fate may lay ahead for Harrison? Let us know in the comments section.

[Image Credit: Stefan Rousseau /Getty Images]

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