British gold standard

In one sense, the gold standard already was a moral notion for economists. It was the prime manifestation of what Nicholas Mayhew has called a moral idea of money (2000, xi)—the idea that a gold-backed currency is a constant and unchanging currency unit with which to measure personal or public obligations (xi). The gold standard was meant to ensure stability in both the domestic economy and international trade, and it was almost an article of faith for most economists. As Mayhew notes, So irrevocable did it all seem that when the [British] National government of 1931 did eventually devalue and abandon gold, its Labour Cabinet predecessors complained that no one had told them you could do that (214-15). 

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