In 1992 sterling's humiliating ejection from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism did for John Major.
Sterling was in crisis and Norman Lamont was forced to announce a humiliating withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Having been opposed to the Conservative government's decision to join the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM), he had to deal with "Black Wednesday".
There is even a precedent: Italy imposed a small tax on all deposits in 1992 as part of its battle to stay in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, a precursor to the single currency.
Without such a federation, can the single currency survive, I asked Helmut Schlesinger, another influential central banker who has seen the odd financial crisis at close quarters and was president of the Bundesbank when sterling was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.
After all, the pound has spent the past ten months above its old central rate in the European exchange-rate mechanism of DM2.95.
The inflation-targeting regime, introduced after Britain was spat out of the European exchange-rate mechanism in 1992, was already proving a success.
Any arrangement in between, such as the old European exchange-rate mechanism or the East Asian currencies' pegs before 1997-98, will eventually come unstuck.
And why did Britain refuse to rejoin the European exchange-rate mechanism, membership of which is seen by many as a prerequisite for joining the euro?
And, as the Tories learnt after Britain was spat out of the European exchange-rate mechanism ten years ago, there's nothing voters dislike so much as incompetence.
That is a bigger depreciation than the one that occurred after the pound was kicked out of the European exchange-rate mechanism in September 1992 and fell by 18%.
Import prices will be pushed up by a weaker pound, whose 6% fall in the last three months was the biggest since sterling's ignominious exit from the European exchange-rate mechanism in 1992.
Various attempts to fix one European currency against each other, such as the Exchange Rate Mechanism, crumbled in the face of divergent economic performances in the countries concerned.
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