Britain has been through the wringer since last month’s mini-budget. Not only was Kwasi Kwarteng’s not-so-mini plan the trigger for a domestic financial crisis and higher mortgage costs for millions, it lit the blue touchpaper for his political downfall and that of his close friend, Liz Truss.
It was all supposed to be so different. Truss had spent the summer promising to cancel the rise in national insurance and corporation tax in the Conservative leadership race. Those pledges, plus her popular energy price freeze, would have been plenty for the new government to announce in the supposedly stripped-back tax and spending event.
