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Bank of England Governor Gets 2nd Term
King reappointed despite criticism over Northern Rock
By Jason Farago
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Posted Jan 30, 08 9:40 AM CST
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(Newser)
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Mervyn King has won a second term as governor of the Bank of England, the Fed's British counterpart, ending months of speculation about his future. Reuters reports that King will serve at the head of the UK central bank for another five years despite the City's fury at his handling of the credit crisis and the meltdown of Northern Rock. Several reports had suggested Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were considering another candidate.
In August King had refused to inject funds to help seizing credit markets, warning of "moral hazard." But a week later, perhaps forced by the government, he released $20 billion into the interbank system, prompting calls for his resignation. A senior official at the Treasury called King's approach to the media "naive": in December he told a reporter that the Brown government was in paralysis.