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Bloke in the pub told me.
Something often overlooked about the gold sell off is that the UK had less than $20bn of foreign reserves including gold at the time. The decision to abandon gold was based on the low return at the time, with preference being given to USD and Euros instead (which is what the gold was sold for. A decision that helped the UK build to the point of having $120bn of foreign reserves instead. Not saying it was part of the plan, but in pure $$ terms it ended up being a decent play.
Stonehedge
I thought the gold sale was a nasty play.
conspiracy theory incoming
The government was under pressure to “drop the debt” to developing nations. The U.K. dropped the debt to some west African nations who depended on their gold production. Brown flooded the market, devalued gold and the re-negotiated new credit arrangements with these countries at a higher rate of interest than before
Bloke in the pub told me.