Exclusive: It must be tough overseeing Schrödinger’s economy, fixing the foundations while also failing to fix them
I
t’s this season’s fashion accessory for every politician. Outside election campaigns, press conferences usually signal major set piece events or a national emergency. Now you can’t move for them. Reform have had four inside a week with another one lined up for tomorrow. Even Kemi Badenoch has been at it with a bizarre outdoors show-and-tell last Thursday. Blink and you would have missed it.
Tuesday was Rachel Reeves’s turn. Her Lance Corporal Jones “Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic!” moment. Normally a chancellor takes a vow of silence in the weeks leading up to the budget. Locked away in the Treasury, head down over economic forecasts, anxious to give nothing away.
But not this year. Now Rachel wanted to give as many clues away as possible. Call it the budget performed in interpretative dance. Nothing actually spelled out but the message was clear. Not least in the timing. A press conference that takes place at 8.10am in Downing Street and is broadcast on nearly every terrestrial channel screams: “Help! Things have gone seriously tits up!” Anyone watching would have been well advised to run for cover. You could see the bad news coming a mile away.
