The best moment in a chancellor’s life comes early. ‘Mr Deputy Speaker,’ he says, ‘we have examined the books. The position is grave. My first duty is to put the public finances in order.’ He then sends for the Hungarian middle-distance runner, Savij Kutz.
This bogeyman, first identified by Alan Watkins, has been off the track for years but is making a comeback. Nick Clegg for the Lib Dems gave him a friendly wave. Gordon Brown mutters his surname through gritted teeth. David Cameron lets it be known that he wouldn’t want Kutz to be confrontational. He may not have the choice.
Public profligacy has seen to that. Public spending in this decade has outpaced every other major economy, public borrowing has struggled to keep up, and until the other day, the Cameronians seemed content to let this go unchallenged. They murmured instead about sharing the proceeds of growth. What growth, they must now wonder? What proceeds?
Today’s Chancellor has budgeted to borrow £175 billion this year and, in the next five years, another £700 billion — if his creditors will let him.
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