To Keynes it seemed that the Wilson administration positively relished the opportunity to reduce Britain to a state of ‘complete financial helplessness and dependence’.33 That dependence expressed itself at its most basic level in the monetary system. Before the war, the international gold standard had been anchored to the gold parity of the pound sterling. After 1914, though it could no longer be freely converted at home, sterling remained nominally attached to gold and in New York the exchanges continued to function. For the Entente Powers it was vital to maintain the value of their
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