In the hyperbole-fuelled theatre of Westminster, where breathless rhetoric and implausible spin are so often the defining qualities, few events can truly be said to live up to a big billing. Yet when allies of the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, promised a “game-changing” address in the run-up to Friday’s economic announcement, for once the performance matched the promise.
In fact, officials who had been billing the announcement as a mere “fiscal event” or “mini-budget” had been engaging in a rare piece of political understatement. What emerged was a package so large, bracingly expensive and unapologetically ideological that it looks certain to set the terms not just of the next election, but the country’s economic fortunes for years.
