Mr Carney, who will soon depart his role, joked “hold my port” before giving his last speech to bankers in the City of London this evening. He then gave a thumbs-up to Facebook’s new cryptocurrency and hailed a “new economy” built on digital payments. Mr Carney ended his speech with a quip that there may soon be an empty role for the President of the EU Commision to fill, before saying: “And I think he likes port. Early in the morning.”

Mr Carney, who reportedly met with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in April, also highlighted the potential for transformation in retail payments.

This is driven by the likes of Facebook’s new Libra payment platform.

He said: “As designed, Libra may substantially improve financial inclusion and dramatically lower the costs of domestic and cross-border payments.

“The Bank of England approaches Libra with an open mind but not an open door.”

Chancellor Philip Hammond also spoke at the event, but his speech was interrupted by climate change protesters.

The protestors wore red dresses with a sash around them with the word “climate emergency”.

They were then seen by escorted out of the room by security.  

On their way out, one protestor was heard saying: “Business, as usual, is no longer an option.”

The disruption lasted several minutes before a slow hand clap broke out from the audience.

Mr Hammond got back to his feet at 9.05pm to deliver the rest of his speech.

To a round of applause, he said: “The irony, of course, is that this is the government that has just led the world by committing to a zero carbon economy by 2050.”

A City of London Police spokesman said they were called to Mansion House but no arrests were made.

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