Business economist Barker appointed to BoE's MPC

Julius is one of the two members of the committee to have consistently argued for lower interest rates since Dec 2000. The other member is Sushil Wadhwani. She has always been regarded as a "dove" on the MPC and has never shied away from voting against the majority in monetary policy decisions. On at least two occasions she was the lone dissenter on the MPC.

Julius was appointed as an external member of the MPC in June 1998, a year after the MPC was set up when the Bank was given independence. From 1993-97 she was chief economist at British Airways Plc and from 1989 to 1993 she was chief economist at the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. It seems likely she will go back into business in June when she leaves the central bank.

Barker, in her capacity as chief economic adviser to the CBI employers body, has frequently argued the case for an interest-rate cut to help UK industry suffering over recent years from the strong level of sterling. Before joining the CBI in 1994, Ms Barker was chief economist at Ford Europe for nine years.

The UK's chancellor Gordon Brown welcomed Ms Barker's decision to join the MPC and paid tribute to Ms Julius's "outstanding contribution" to the committee's work over the past three and a half years.