Richard Lambert was given a run for his money before Britain's Treasury Select Committee when prodded and poked over what on earth he was doing on the Bank of England's MPC (monetary policy committee) without an economics degree to his name. Lambert proceeded to describe how he was appointed. He had received two long-distance phone calls while in Japan from Ed Balls, Gordon Brown's chief economic adviser, and Gus O'Donnell, permanent secretary to the Treasury. This seems to have been about the