By Tim Montgomerie
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Ed Balls and George Osborne were just getting going at the end of this morning's Andrew Marr show when Jeremy Vine interrupted to end the programme with some Irish music for St Patrick's Day. Does anyone watch Marr for music rather than news and politics?
Resonating with yesterday's 'Aspiration Nation' message from the Prime Minister George Osborne signalled a determination to help lots of want-to-get-on groups in his interview on the Andrew Marr programme. He promised to help…
I can't believe he will be able to afford much help for any of those groups given the state of the public finances but as Stephen Pollard Tweeted, he's a politician who likes to surprise.
What there won't be will be any dramatic changes of overall direction. Mr Osborne poured cold water on Labour and Tory backbench calls for big tax cuts or more borrowing to increase capital spending by telling Jeremy Vine that there was not a "miracle cure" for growth. He also defended the NHS ringfence (which is supported by 67% of voters*) and, more controversially, the ringfence for overseas aid (which, in contrast, 68% want cut*). The Chancellor argued that helping the poor overseas was both a moral commitment and good foreign policy.
Mr Osborne did make one new announcement. Following yesterday's raid on depositors who had lodged money with Cyprus' bailed-out banks, the Chancellor promised that military and other personnel serving at British bases on the island would be compensated from the "deposit tax". Good.
The Chancellor was also staunch in his defence of press freedom. "People fought and literally died to give us a free press," he said and continued by arguing that "press regulation that divides the parties isn't press regulation that is going to last".
* Numbers taken from today's YouGov poll for the Sunday Times (PDF).