So now we know what happens when you put three would-be finance ministers into a room, and start asking them questions. There’s plenty of esoteric language, a good dash of posturing – and next to no fireworks. Thinking about it, perhaps we shouldn’t have expected much else.
Not that the pyrotechnics were completely absent, of course. Both Cable and Darling rounded on Osborne over the Tories’ national insurance plans, and Osborne hit back with some well-directed attacks on Labour’s own tax and spend agenda – even getting Darling to waver and admit that a “death tax” is no longer on the cards.
But, for the most part, calm and civility ruled the day. I lost count of how many times the participants said “I agree with…” – something which will have suited the spin doctors in the wings, eager to avoid a car-crash performance more than anything else.
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