Back when it all began in 2010, the then Conservative chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, delivered what he described as "this unavoidable budget". A package of savage spending cuts and painful tax rises lay at its heart. The message was that the Tory-led coalition was riding to the rescue to put right the wrongs of 13 years of Labour government, and, after a short sharp shock of austerity, soon all would be a bed of economic roses.
More than 12 years on, last Thursday Jeremy Hunt was offering yet more painful medicine, and still little sign at all of rosier times ahead. In the short term taxes would have to rise again, this time by a massive £25bn ($30bn), Hunt said, while spending would need to be reined in by £30bn.
There were consequences for the wider Tory agenda. Badly needed domestic reforms promised by successive Conservative prime ministers, such as those to social care, would have to be delayed for the umpteenth time.
Funds for public services would be squeezed and plans to raise international aid shelved. There would be help for the poorest at home, with benefits and pensions being uprated in line with inflation, because without such a hike, at a time when prices were rising at terrifying rates, their plight would soon become intolerable.
Despite this litany of economic failure and national decline, Hunt, the fourth Tory chancellor of the exchequer in as many months, nonetheless managed in his peroration to declare that the Conservatives remained the party to be trusted most with the economy.
Opposition MPs gasped, and Tories cheered. But they could all see the glaring fault lines in the chancellor's arguments. They knew Hunt's task was twofold: to put the economy back on something resembling a sensible course after Liz Truss's reckless minibudget, while obscuring the obvious Tory culpability for its dreadful state in whatever way he could.
This story is from the November 25, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 25, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
No 298 Bean, cabbage and coconut-milk soup
Deep, sweet heat. A soup that soothes and invigorates simultaneously.
Cottage cheese goes viral: in reluctant praise of a food trend
I was asked recently which food trends I think will take over in 2025.
I'm worried that my teenage son is in a toxic relationship
A year ago, our almost 18-year-old son began seeing a girl, who is a year older than him and is his first \"real\" girlfriend.
BOOKS OF THE MONTH
A roundup of the best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror
Dying words
The Nobel prize winner explores the moment of death and beyond in a probing tale of a fisher living in near solitude
Origin story
We homo sapiens evolved and succeeded when other hominins didn't-but now our expansionist drive is threatening the planet
Glad rags to riches
Sarcastic, self-aware and surprisingly sad, the first volume of Cher's extraordinary memoir mixes hard times with the high life
Sail of the century
Anenigmatic nautical radio bulletin first broadcast 100 years ago, the Shipping Forecast has beguiled and inspired poets, pop stars and listeners worldwide
How does it feel?
A Complete Unknown retells Bob Dylan's explosive rise, but it als resonates with today's toxic fame and politics. The creative team expl their process-and wha the singer made of it all
Jane Austen's enduring legacy lies in her relevance as a foil for modern mores
For some, it will be enough merely to re-read Persuasion, and thence to cry yet again at Captain Wentworth's declaration of utmost love for Anne Elliot.
