With Sajid Javid gone, will Boris now start a Gordon Brown-style spending splurge?

The nature of the Johnson government is still not clear, but has become more so with the announcement this week that HS2 is to go ahead in its entirety. Until recently, it had seemed that the project would be, if not dropped altogether, cut back in order to rein in its ever-accelerating budget. This is what most Tory MPs,cabinet members and even the Chancellor had wanted. But instead, the Prime Minister has decided that it will be built in its full £106 billion form. Not only that, he threw in £5 billion for buses and cycleways, as well as the promise of a £39 billion high-speed line from Manchester to Leeds. And, perhaps, a £20 billion road bridge connecting Dumfriesshire with Northern Ireland.

The ability to think big is generally a positive trait. It is easy to admire brave infrastructure projects in other countries and contrast them with the penny-pinching roads and railways which have long been a feature of UK public spending.