Bank of England Governor Mervyn King grilled over Treasury cash grab "I think what we've said today is that we don't think that in substance this operation compromised our independence," he told the Treasury Committee. But it is very important that we go beyond that - to make sure that not only is our independence not compromised, which I think isn't the case, but has not been seen to be compromised, and that also matters. A day earlier, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee had left its bond purchase target for the QE programme unchanged at £325bn and made no mention of the decision. Sir Mervyn was told by Labour MP George Mudie that the situation left him looking "as independent as a Chelsea manager," referring to recent drama at the football club. The Governor replied: "Few Chelsea managers have managed to last 10 years, Mr Mudie." He said he did not accept "even a word" of criticism from Andrea Leadsom, Conservative MP, who said the central bank was now "allowing the Treasury to get involved directly in monetary policy and you're all complicit in that." However, Sir Mervyn did express a "small regret perhaps" over the handling of the announcement of the Treasury's move. However its decision will make the public finances look better when the Chancellor updates his forecasts at the Autumn Statement next month. The Governor made it clear that the move does not improve the "underlying" state of Britain's public finances. Sir Mervyn spoke a day after the Bank of Canada's Governor Mark Carney was named as his replacement. "I have an outstanding successor," he told the Committee.