The original rise in central bank independence was motivated by successful taming of inflation in the 1980s, a success that would have delighted Mervyn King in his long-held ambition for monetary policy to be boring. It didn’t turn out that way, as the pronouncements of “rock star” central bankers such as Greenspan, Bernanke, Draghi and Carney continued to dominate the economic news agenda. But this cult of the expert was inevitably destined for a populist fall, as seen in the US presidential election and Michael Gove’s “Britain has had enough of experts” during the Brexit referendum. The worry is that central bank independence has not been fully institutionalised, but rather has rested on the strong personalities of central bankers. The taking on of additional responsibilities by central banks and the blurring of the boundaries between monetary and fiscal policy can only add to the pressures on central bank independence. I take some comfort from the decision by Governor Carney to remain at the Bank of England until June 2019, by which time Britain may have rediscovered its taste for experts.