Mervyn King's call for no-deal Brexit fails to offer solutions | Nils Pratley

King's attack on Theresa May's Brexit did not give us an estimate of the economic damage

Some would say governors of the Bank of England should slip quietly into the shadows after leaving office, but at least Mervyn King offers value for money when he steps on to the stage. His attack on Theresa May's Brexit deal was a blistering and inflammatory must-read.

"There is no case whatever for giving up the benefits of remaining without obtaining the benefits of leaving," Lord King wrote, which is a well-crafted line that remainers and leavers alike might support. Similarly, the comments about "vassalage" will chime with opponents to May's deal from both camps. Jo Johnson, when he quit the cabinet and called for a second referendum, described the Brexit process "a failure of British statecraft on a scale unseen since the Suez crisis". King went bigger by drawing a comparison with 1930s appeasement.