Winston Churchill Is Appointed Chancellor Of the Exchequer

Winston Churchill's Budget of 1925 has become infamous for returning Britain to the gold standard, at a fixed rate of $4.80 to the pound.

The aim was to restore Britain's position at the centre of the world's financial system. It is now argued that the high rate made British industry uncompetitive and prolonged the slump.

Alan Clark, the Conservative MP and biographer of the Conservative Party, argues that Churchill had his reservations, but the lack of alternative economic advice left him no choice.

Even Liberal economist John Maynard Keynes, who later criticised the fixed exchange rate, was convinced the move was inevitable.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/budget_99/bud...