Jeremy Hunt gave us a hit-and-run budget. But unlike cornered chancellors past, he showed no shame | Martin Kettle

The Tories can see the writing on the wall – so they are intent on wrecking things for an incoming Labour government

There is nothing, says the former chancellor Ken Clarke in his memoir, “so dead and forgotten as old budgets”. A chancellor’s budget is the product of months of Treasury work. It provides a spectacular pantomime on the day it is delivered. It appears to matter hugely at the time. But, as Clarke himself admits, most budgets are effectively forgotten within months.

Jeremy Hunt’s 2024 budget, delivered on Wednesday, is unlikely to be an exception. Many of its figures can be taken with a pinch of salt. They will need to be adjusted, sometimes radically, in the months ahead. Hunt’s budget will be rapidly absorbed into the existing party battle, too. It has not changed the conversation much. Nevertheless, in one very particular and politically significant way it was genuinely memorable.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

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