Sir Montague's remarks, the City Editor of the Times observed that "although the occasion of the speech was not an important one, its substance was telegraphed immediately to all the chief foreign centres, and a 'flight from the pound' on a small scale began immediately." And the Economist of October 20 pointed out that "through the indiscretions of a Minister, the foreign exchange market has been able to give a very useful lesson this week of the effects of a deliberate policy of inflation. To those, among whom the Minister in question appears to be included, unaware of the sensitiveness of this market and of the basis of confidence upon which the predominance of London as a monetary centre rests, the immediate removal of funds in some cases, and the thousands of anxious inquiries from every part of the world, showed very clearly what might be expected from such a policy."
Such was the effect of a hint by a Minister, who had not hitherto been an outstanding figure in British politics, that the Cabinet proposed to drop the policy of working back to the gold standard, and to dose unemployment with inflation. In a letter to the Times dated October 16 Sir Montague repeated a statement that he had made on that day to the
