Bank of England Deputy Governor Andrew Large alone wanted to raise interest rates for the second month in a row in December, but was voted down by the other eight members of the Monetary Policy Committee.
Minutes of the MPC's December 3rd and 4th meeting published today show that Large was particularly concerned by the rise in consumer debt levels and voted for another quarter-point rise to 4 per cent to dampen that and spending.
But the rest of the committee, including Governor Mervyn King and the other deputy, Ms Rachel Lomax, thought it was better to wait and see what the effects of November's quarter-point rise - the first in nearly four years - would be before acting again.
Still, the minutes suggested that the MPC would be raising rates before too long.
"If the economy continued to evolve in line with the committee's central projections, a further increase in the repo rate would be warranted at some point," the minutes said.
The MPC judged that the global economy had matched or exceeded expectations since the November Inflation Report. The US was growing particularly strongly and even the euro area was showing signs of recovery.
But the MPC said that the risk of further falls in the US dollar meant it was still to early to be certain about the rebound in the euro zone.