By David Milliken and Farouq Suleiman LONDON (Reuters) -Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Monday that the current surge in inflation was the central bank’s biggest challenge since it gained independence in 1997, but denied that policymakers had been “asleep at the wheel”. Bailey has been criticised for failing to act sooner on inflation by some lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party, which is under public and political pressure over a cost-of-living crisis. While in December the BoE became the first major central bank to raise interest rates since the start of the pandemic, …