In the midst of a troubled political and economic “relaunch”, Gordon Brown must be wishing he had made economic growth an explicit goal for the UK’s central bank alongside fighting inflation. Mervyn King, the bank’s governor, and the rest of the monetary policy committee might then have given him more of a helping hand on Thursday with an interest rate cut.

Across Europe, other leaders might not be under so much immediate political pressure, but with recession looking as likely for the eurozone as for the UK, they may also be wishing the eurozone’s central bank could directly address growth.