The new Bank of England deputy spent most of his career in the Treasury, and was a key figure alongside Gordon Brown in 2008
The appointment of Sir Jon Cunliffe as deputy Bank of England governor puts a civil servant who has spent most of his career in the Treasury at the heart of the central bank.
For the last 18 months he has been David Cameron's man in Brussels in his role as UK permanent representative to the European Union, but prior to this high-profile posting most of his time was spent in committee representing the chancellor of the day. For much of his career that meant Gordon Brown.
A life-long Arsenal supporter and father of two daughters, Cunliffe, 60, is known as a smooth backroom operator. Since the coalition took power, ministers have billed him as someone who will stand up to Europe as it tries to impose new regulations on the City.
But rightwing Tories are suspicious that he harbours pro-European tendencies.
Douglas Carswell, the noisy Tory backbench MP, said Cunliffe's role during the Greek debt crisis, when the UK agreed to Athens receiving an EU backed bailout "managed to make us part of the euro debt union, if not the currency union".
Background
Cunliffe studied at Manchester University and lectured at the University of Western Ontario before entering Whitehall in 1980. A succession of jobs took him from managing director of finance, regulation and industry at the Treasury in 2000 to second permanent secretary in 2005 when he became a regular visitor to Threadneedle Street as the Treasury's eyes and ears at monetary policy committee meetings.
In 2007, following Gordon Brown's appointment as prime minister, Cunliffe was appointed head of the European and global issues secretariat. In this role he accompanied Brown in discussions at the G8 and G20 and was credited with helping Brown forge a co-ordinated response to the banking crash.
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