Hammond’s colleagues are setting him up to fail so that he can be blamed for all their problems and deficienciesBudget day used to mean something. It was one of the big ceremonial occasions of British politics,second only to the Queen’s Speech as parliamentary theatre and very often much more meaningful in the hierarchy of importance. The event was vested with unique rituals and the contents of the chancellor’s briefcase were reverenced with elaborate secrecy until the grand reveal to expectant MPs.
Philip Hammond will proceed through the motions this Wednesday. His gaunt and gangling figure will brandish the red box from the steps of Number 11 before he heads down the road. The traditions will be honoured, but they will be performed by an encircled chancellor in straitened circumstances who knows that much of his own party are out to get him. A man who has spent the weeks running up to the event telling Tory MPs that there are no “magic bullets” in his armoury would probably prefer not to be delivering a budget at all legal now.
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Source: guardian.co.uk