Warning from ex-governor adds to concerns about economy with Bank tipped to raise rate above 5%

The Bank of England could plunge the UK into a recession by raising rates too far, the former governor Mervyn King has said.

In a broadside a fortnight before Bank officials are due to meet to decide the next step for interest rates, Lord King said the signals from the credit markets in 2021 that indicated inflation was about to rocket were now showing that price growth was about to drop sharply.