London — On Tuesday, the two most senior custodians of Britain’s economy laid out arguments for a Brexit that protected jobs and financial health — a day after the government prioritised a clean break with the EU. Seeming to contradict some of the "hard" Brexit rhetoric espoused at the start of negotiations with the EU on Monday, finance minister Philip Hammond and Bank of England governor Mark Carney stressed the perils of an abrupt divorce from the UK’s biggest trading market. Carney even mocked foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s argument that Britain could have its cake and eat it by quitting the EU but still retaining the benefits of membership. "Before long, we will all begin to find out the extent to which Brexit is a gentle stroll along a smooth path to a land of cake and consumption," Carney said at the annual Mansion House event, which was postponed from last week by a deadly fire in a London tower block. "Depending on whether and when any transition arrangement can be agree...
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