Invisible man manages to stay out of the picture

Date: 19/10/1995

Sir Nigel Wicks, president of the monetary committee, is giving transparency and openness a bad name.

Not by withholding sensitive information about exchange rates or by ducking difficult questions after one of his committee's secretive gatherings, both of which are understandable and par for the course. No, it is Wicks' determination to live up to the sobriquet of faceless bureaucrat that is more surprising.

European Voice wanted an innocent photograph of Sir Nigel, the UK Treasury's second most senior civil servant to run with an article about the monetary committee's work. Photo databases hadn't heard of him, the monetary committee had heard of him but couldn't supply a picture.

The UK Treasury press office passed us on to Wicks' private office, where someone on the end of the phone said rather snootily: “Sir Nigel doesn't like to give anything to the press.”