The way Rachel Reeves told it last November after her budget, it seemed to be a done deal that JP Morgan would build a 279,000 sq metre (3m sq ft) tower in Canary Wharf to serve as its European headquarters. The chancellor was “thrilled” the Wall Street bank had chosen London and hailed “a multibillion-pound vote of confidence in the UK economy and this government’s plans for growth”.
And, to be fair to Reeves, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan’s big boss, also presented the plan as final. “The UK government’s priority of economic growth has been a critical factor in helping us make this decision,” he said.
