Question
George Soros and other currency traders profited fortunes by short selling the British pound sterling during this crisis. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this crisis in which the pound was withdrawn from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after the German Bundesbank disagreed with British officials over interest rates.
ANSWER: Black Wednesday [or the 1992 sterling crisis; prompt on sterling crisis]
[10e] Black Wednesday led to an increase in Euroscepticism in this man’s Conservative Party, which culminated in a leadership challenge to this prime minister and successor of Margaret Thatcher.
ANSWER: John Major
[10h] Before and on Black Wednesday, this former Chancellor of the Exchequer tried to avoid the looming crisis by repeatedly raising interest rates on the pound. This politician also supported Britain’s opt-out from the monetary union using the euro.
ANSWER: Norman Lamont [or Norman Stuart Hughson Lamont; or The Right Honourable the Lord Lamont of Lerwick]
<European History>