Osborne has a few cards up his sleeve, but no aces

In some ways, George Osborne will always be haunted by his 2007 Tory conference speech. That speech and the reaction to his commitment to raise all estates worth less than £1 million out of inheritance tax contributed to Gordon Brown not calling an early election. It has a claim to be one of the most important speeches in modern British politics — it is certainly the one that saved the Cameron project. But it has also created an expectation that Osborne has a set of aces up his sleeve every time he stands up to give a big speech.

Most popular

Gavin Mortimer

When will Britain wake up to the Islamist threat?

Tomorrow’s speech won’t see the Chancellor pull out any unexpected trumps. Osborne’s team is sanguine that the headlines of the evening bulletins on Tuesday and Wednesday’s front pages will be dominated by the OBR’s forecasts and so most of the big announcements are already out there.