The Budget 2

Gordon Brown was a noisy bully of a Chancellor, roaring platitudes from the Despatch Box trying to make them sound like a well thought out policy (‘We will never return to the days of boom and bust’ – Ha!) but Alastair Darling is a quiet, dull little man. He looks like an accountant (though of course isn’t).

I think dullness is a good thing in a Chancellor although Darling shows you can have too much of a good thing. They shouldn’t hold these gigs at lunchtime (I am an hour ahead here so was gasping for a bicchierino before PMQs) although I expect my eyelids would have grown heavy whatever my alcohol levels.

You could have got 8/1 on Darling wearing a purple tie but probably only evens on him mentioning the word ‘stability’ half a dozen times in the first few minutes, which is what he did.

I’m still looking for the hidden catches, although the Treasury spin is that Darling is Mr Straightforward. If I thought Darling had written the budget I might be impressed.