But just a £2 goodbye to 'strong + stable' from UK gold price...
CAN'T anyone find a good word for Theresa May?
asks Adrian Ash at BullionVault.
Well, perhaps the gold price can.
Buying gold is typically used as a hedge or defence against bad things happening.
So this seems pretty startling given the unanimous view that Theresa '
strong and stable' May has been a terrible PM.
Because if the UK gold price in Pounds per ounce holds where it is over the next 2 weeks, she will have become the first Prime Minister since Harold Wilson to preside over a drop in
the gold price in Sterling terms.
Not much of a drop, admittedly. Just £2 per ounce for UK investors in fact. So more a slight pause than a pullback in a relentless long-term uptrend.
| Prime Minister |
Party |
Date left No.10 |
Gold price |
% change |
| Harold Wilson |
Lab |
19 Jun 70 |
17.36 |
37.7 |
| Edward Heath |
Con |
04 Mar 74 |
72.83 |
319.5 |
| Harold Wilson |
Lab |
05 Apr 76 |
67.94 |
-6.7 |
| James Callaghan |
Lab |
04 May 79 |
119.75 |
76.3 |
| Margaret Thatcher |
Con |
28 Nov 90 |
194.94 |
62.8 |
| John Major |
Con |
02 May 97 |
210.49 |
8.0 |
| Tony Blair |
Lab |
27 Jun 07 |
321.47 |
52.7 |
| Gordon Brown |
Lab |
11 May 10 |
824.07 |
156.3 |
| David Cameron |
Con |
13 Jul 16 |
1014.99 |
23.2 |
| Theresa May |
Con |
07 Jun 19 |
1013.00 |
-0.2 |
Today's flood of farewells ignore it, of course...
...driving the knife in with a smile and gentle hand on the arm.
"Stoical," tweets May's nemesis, Boris '
the Oaf' Johnson...now widely tipped to win the keys to Number 10...after the Prime Minister wept a tear today and said she will quit as Conservative Party leader, and therefore leave Downing Street, on Friday 7 June, 2019.
A "strong and brave speech" says May's predecessor, two-time referendum-winner but one-time loser David '
Oops! I'm outta here' Cameron.
"It's hard not to feel for Theresa May," says Nigel '
ummm,
banana' Farage, "but she misjudged the mood of the country."
"A moving speech...deserves our respect and gratitude," tweets Michael '
who needs experts' Gove.
"A sad but necessary day," says fellow 'Brexiteer' and Tory leader wannabee
Steve Baker.
"Very dignified," is the best Andrea '
maternal' Leadsom can manage, following her killer resignation from May's Cabinet with the most damning of faint praise for her former leadership competitor:
"She did her utmost."
As for May's opposition Labour opponent, all that Jeremy '
didn't read it,
wasn't involved' Corbyn can offer is a dollop of irony, plus a plea to avoid a second referendum:
Theresa May is right to resign. She's now accepted what the country's known for months: she can't govern, and nor can her divided and disintegrating party.
Whoever becomes the new Tory leader must let the people decide our country’s future, through an immediate General Election.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) May 24, 2019
Mere civilians are almost as blunt.
"Good riddance!" spit readers of the heavily right-wing pro-Brexit Mail Online.
"The worst PM ever," agree most of the others, adding that "She betrayed democracy" – a narrative May's successor (and the rest of us) should pray they escape.
Over on the left, "Self serving...crying for herself," spit readers of
The Guardian.
And among financial types, "I can't say anything particularly positive about Theresa May's time in charge," agrees John Stepek, editor of the top-selling UK investment magazine
MoneyWeek.
Oddly however, the financial markets can.
Alongside that gentle £6 retreat in gold prices – albeit from jumping 22% on the Brexit referendum result, leaping back towards 2011's all-time highs for UK Pound investors – the FTSE All-Share has meantime risen 10.5% since Mrs.May entered Number 10 Downing Street in mid-July 2016.
With dividends included, the UK stock market has in fact returned 22.6% in total.
Less rewarding, Britain's average house price has also risen,
up 5.4% even with a £5,000 retreat from last summer's new eye-watering top of £231,000.
Unemployment has meanwhile fallen to 45-year lows. Average earnings have risen 6.4% in total, just about keeping pace with inflation.
But that gold price fact stands out. Because not since the 1974-76 premiership of Labour leader Harold Wilson has a British Prime Minister seen the Pound edge higher against gold bullion before they resign.
Like May's time in office, Wilson's mid-70s' reign is universally viewed as a disaster (a few
old school Labourites aside). The fact gold prices slipped either say that view is awry, or he had nothing to do with it. (Or maybe gold just gave him a break after Wilson, during his first term in 10 Downing Street ending 1970, kick-started the end of the Gold Standard and gold's long bull market with his
shock devaluation of Sterling.)
But maybe buying gold won't defend you against the worst fools, knaves and failures of the political world. Maybe the
FTSE's decent return counts for more against gold, a result in itself perhaps of the Brexit paralysis in Parliament leaving the rest of us to get on with trying to scratch a living.
Still, let's see how gold prices respond to the UK's next prime minister before we pass judgement. Because longer term, the trend seems pretty relentless.
