Steering clear of the ‘Greek mangle’

Financial Times
July 20, 2011

It is the end of term – but holiday mood is in short supply at the Treasury. “I’m very worried,” says George Osborne. “This building is very worried and this government is very worried.” For the chancellor, continental Europe evokes danger, not summer breaks.

Mr Osborne insists he is optimistic that eurozone leaders will “get a grip” on the debt crisis on Thursday and insists Britain is a “safe haven” from the sovereign debt crisis. But he admits if the Greek crisis escalates, it could be every bit as bad as the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

In that event, nowhere is safe. He tells the Financial Times that contingency planning is well advanced and that he is meeting Sir Mervyn King, Bank of England governor, “on more than a weekly basis” to discuss the British response.

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