British PM in talks with bank governor

The governor of the Bank of England held breakfast talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today as stock markets around the world plunged.

Mervyn King emerged from 10 Downing Street as ministers began to arrive for the weekly Cabinet meeting, which is also likely to be dominated by the global crisis.

The unsmiling governor left the meeting and was driven away in his waiting car without speaking to reporters.

A Downing Street spokesman said the meeting had been “routine”.

“They discussed the present situation among other things,” the spokesman said.

Among senior government figures arriving at Downing Street was Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, the announcement of whose decision to step down soon from the Cabinet overshadowed Mr Brown's speech to the Labour Party conference last week.

She walked up the street side-by-side with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith but did not answer questions about whether she was sad to be leaving.