Bank of England rate-setter dies suddenly

David Walton, a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, has died after a short illness. The Bank said Mr Walton, 43, died unexpectedly on Wednesday evening.

The Bank of England's governor, Mervyn King, said: "All our thoughts are with David's wife, his young children and his parents.

"David inspired the respect and affection of all his colleagues in the Bank, and today's news has come as a shock to us all, as it will to those who knew him in the City, where he made his reputation as an economist," he said.

Mr Walton, a former Goldman Sachs economist, joined the BoE's rate-setting committee a year ago. He started his career at the Treasury after studying at Durham and Warwick universities.

He had been a lone voice calling for higher interest rates at recent policy meetings, while the other seven committee members have voted to leave borrowing costs at 4.5%. Interest rate futures rose on the news and the pound fell in early trading.

His death leaves the MPC two members short, as the Treasury has yet to appoint a replacement for Richard Lambert, who left suddenly earlier this year to join the CBI.