It is a budget that many on his own side thought he would not give. Hammond has deliberately styled himself as a classic iron chancellor, safeguarding the nation’s finances against the flights of fancy of profligate colleagues. An excoriating recent Sun column from the prime minister’s former righthand man Nick Timothy told the same story, accusing the chancellor of blocking a slew of progressive policies. Borrowing to invest is not the same as borrowing to pay the bills,” he says. George Freeman, the reform-minded former chair of the prime minister’s policy board, has stepped aside from the role after unleashing a series of salvoes about the need for a rethink.

Source: The Guardian November 20, 2017 22:01 UTC