Casinos based on faith finances that will bet the bank. The biggest tax giveaway – mostly to the rich – in 50 years, while increasing government borrowing to record levels. It was the time when Labor took it by the throat for uncosted public borrowing. This is now last month. All you have to do now is believe and everything will be fine. It’s the new economic data for Brexit in Britain. You want growth, you have growth. And if you don’t, then everyone else who underestimates Britain will be to blame. The country has just turned into a laboratory experiment for a plan dreamed up by the right-wing Institute of Economic Affairs. Kwarteng believes. Primarily to himself. His confidence is remarkable for a man of relatively ordinary talents. Someone who always got by with few words. Who could talk the talk but was never asked to walk the walk. Now was his time to do it. To throw the country on the altar of sacrifice and keep his fingers crossed he had not blown it. To boldly go where no man has gone before. Mainly because it was so obviously disastrous. Some Tories had the grace to look embarrassed, but not Librium Liz. Photo: Jessica Taylor/AP But this is the brave new world of Trussonomics. It’s like turning on all the faucets at once and being surprised when you flood the house. The Commons were still full, but this was no ordinary budget statement. There was no boom, no long build-up of how brilliant the government was. And no loud cheers from the Tory benches. Most of the MPs looked sick. Worrying yet. They are not sure how they would sell this latest version of the Tories to their voters. Half of the personal tax cuts going to the richest 5% may not be exactly the policy to win the hearts and minds of “red wall” voters. Kwarteng went straight into business. So much to announce, so little time to do it. The tax was too high! Growth was very low! The government let the economy stagnate. He wasn’t sure who the government had been for the past 12 years, but he and Librium Liz had certainly played no part in it. Which was odd, as most of us could remember that both were cabinet ministers who had voted for measures that were now being scrapped. And who had pointed out several times the danger of public debt. Like Truss, Kwasi is tabula rasa. Free to reinvent himself, unbound by the past. “We are at the beginning of a new era,” he said. Strangely, he even sounded like he believed it. That people are really ready to forgive and forget. Consider this government as Year Zero and not the continuation of the many failures that preceded it. No one else in the room seemed to share this view. Some Tories had the grace to look embarrassed. Librium Liz barely looked empty. Then he does it often. Maybe even she couldn’t accept that she got away with it. The chancellor proceeded with the corrective measures. First it was a lot more borrowing. He couldn’t say how much. And it would be rude to ask. Then to deregulation. It should be easier to treat workers worse. After all, if people weren’t earning enough, it was entirely their own fault that they didn’t have a better paying job. And what about the poor bankers? They were unable to afford their second home while their bonuses were limited. Time to free the Goldman Sachs elite. Kwarteng then began to tax. There was too much. If he had his way, nobody would pay a dime. It would be up to everyone to either sink or swim. There were too many people sitting idle, relying on schools and the NHS. But he could not cut taxes completely. So, he was going to do it for the better-off. Because apparently that was the right thing to do. This was a budget without moral purpose. Even Boris Johnson hadn’t sunk that low. It’s come to a head when Kwarteng is now lowest on The Convict’s moral balance sheet. Although everything is of one piece. Every time you think government couldn’t sink any lower, it finds new, creative ways to do it. Labour’s Rachel Reeves gave a decent response – the highlight of which was to dig up the six previous failed Conservative development plans across the despatch box and ask why the new one should be better – but she missed it a bit. Almost as if her whole speech was scripted and she couldn’t understand how reckless the Tories were. A little more ad-libbing wouldn’t have gone amiss. For the Tories, only John Redwood and Richard Drax were thoroughly enthusiastic. This was all their wet dreams come true at once. Others, such as Mel Stride and John Glen, were openly skeptical. Of Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove, there was no sign. They are now non-human. Long before the end, every Tory MP had melted and Kwarteng was left to answer questions from opposition supporters. The chancellor looked increasingly lost and lonely. His confidence had definitely taken a hit in the last two and a half hours. At least because the markets had responded to his mini-budget with a resounding thumbs up. Not even Quasi could fully convince himself now that he knew something that no other financial analyst knew. Although give it a day or so…
