He argued that, in his personal view, there were a variety of circumstances under which a more rigid relationship would lead to sub-optimal policy.
Some relevant extracts follow.
There is no mechanical link between the two year-ahead inflation forecast and the policy decision. It is important to recall that we have to attempt to hit our inflation target at all times, not just two years out. Moreover, although there are time-lags between changes in interest rates and inflation, it is plausible that monetary policy has some effect on inflation at time horizons shorter than two years. Setting interest rates today to ensure that our two year-ahead inflation forecast exactly equals the target if interest rates did not change again over the subsequent two years is one possible way of attempting to fulfil our remit. There are alternative time-paths of interest rates which might actually help us fulfil our remit more effectively.