Norman Lamont’s diary: Green shoots, George Osborne and Mark Carney

I was surprised to be told, by the editor of this magazine, that next week will mark the 20th anniversary of my standing down as Chancellor. The anniversary had entirely passed me by. I was asked this week why, if the economy was turning, George Osborne didn’t announce that he had spotted ‘green shoots’, as I observed in 1991. Although my remark, much rubbished at the time, turned out to be surprisingly prescient, I think Osborne is right to be cautious. Economic statistics are revised so often, trying to steer the economy as Chancellor is, as Harold Macmillan observed, like trying to catch a train using last year’s timetable. The best comment on green shoots was that of my then wife: ‘You don’t get green shoots in the autumn.’ I was surprised how the phrase went global: ‘pousses vertes’ in France, ‘germogli verdi’ in Italy and ‘grüne triebe’ in Germany.