Number 10 tries to neutralise Budget row

David Cameron and George Osborne have got a lot to do to patch up the current Tory wars. But first they need to ensure that those wars don’t get even worse, by making the Budget battles of this week seem less potent.

This, it was revealed at morning lobby briefing, will now involve allowing MPs to vote on a Budget that does not set out how the government will save £4bn that the cuts to personal independence payment were supposed to achieve. It will also involve the government not opposing the rebel amendments on the tampon tax and VAT on solar panels and insulation products.

This second decision on whipping arrangements has been made out of absolute necessity as the government was going to lose. Any attempts to try to stop the rebellion by threatening or cajoling MPs would not have worked in the current febrile atmosphere in the Conservative party, and would have made the row much worse.