Were there any senior Conservative politicians that had a knowledge of economics available at the time? At the end of the day it's how the system is set up with ministers making decisions on the advice of specialists. Churchill had his fair share of bad ideas but when IIRC the Treasury, the Bank of England, the City, pretty much all the economists bar two - and even here he had dinner with them to hear their arguments - all advise you to go back on the gold standard it was the logical decision to take.Winston Churchill adopted the Gold standard, I dont even know why he got chancellor of the Exchequer, he did not have any economic knowledge whatsoever. He did want to study economics but did not have the time or the inclination, which he should of.