By Paul Goodman
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Neither Tim Montgomerie nor I have given up on George Osborne as Chancellor – see here and here – but there is almost no good news for him in today's papers. We have:
The Times (£) suggests that the only way out is further cuts in spending combined with a refired growth agenda. And even this won't do the trick in the event of a complete Eurozone collapse.
The Chancellor urgently needs wide political support for such an enterprise. I have urged a Commission on Better Spending – or to put it more starkly, Affordable Spending, with former Labour Ministers such as James Purnell playing a part.
But that was before the budget – and thus before both its U-turns and the dire economic news of the past fortnight. It is arguable that Mr Osborne looked like a winner then. He certainly doesn't today.
This may change, but for the moment I suspect that the mood in opposition thinking has shifted, and it now believes Ed Miliband is likely to be the next Prime Minister. This will have the effect of frightening off senior Labour figures from attempts by Ministers to lure them into a "big tent".
As I say, we haven't given up on the Chancellor over here at ConHome, but what has happened post-budget both to him and the Coalition more widely – think of the consequences of the Lords Reform vote – are making it look very hard for him to bounce back.