George Osborne turned up in the Commons chamber with a clear plan to get through this Budget debate: turn it into a partisan slug fest. His aim was to make it a straight Labour/Tory fight and by doing that, rally the Tory benches to him. With some help from the whips and the PPSs, he largely succeeded in doing that. Crucially for him, he got through the speech without incurring any further damage.
As soon as Osborne began talking about the Budget, Labour started trying to intervene on him. Chris Leslie was first up, demanding an apology for the proposed PIP cuts. Osborne, in a response that set the tone for the rest of the speech, demanded that Labour apologise for the financial crisis.
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