He brought home the details of all the spending increases – in the NHS, the care system – knitting and weaving like an overzealous undertaker’s assistant recently promoted to the most important village funeral of the year. He even announced some measures planned for after the next elections. In a recent poll, the likelihood of this happening is like accepting a post-dated check from a character in a Trollope novel, or marking your annual Christmas lunch with the Russian General Staff in your calendar with a steady biro rather than a very, very faint pencil. . At times, things were closer to archeology than economics. It brought the skeletons out of the closet of the last quarter century of efforts to save the British economy. Not only was the whole shenanigans announced by a man once known as “the last Cameron”, but he also managed to resurrect, like lazarus, two Blairite corpses in the forms of Patricia Hewitt and Michael Barber. As Martha states in the Gospel of John, “no Lord. because it already stinks.” And what about the Tory faithful? Apart from a few flurries of approval and removal of workers, the backbenches felt muted. By far their greatest joy came at the news that the triple lock would be protected in its entirety. “To the millions of pensioners, I say, this government is on your side,” Hunt boomed – as if there was ever any doubt. Considering how many Labour-inspired policies the government had adopted, you’d think the opposition would be over the moon. But, like the kid who asks for a fifth ice cream and then complains of feeling sick, they still managed a tantrum.
