Poor Alistair Darling, having to clear up the 10p tax mess of Gordon Brown's making.
As yesterday's sop to Labour rebels looked as it was unravelling, the chancellor had to face further questions about the fiasco at Treasury question time.
The mission: to reassure angry Labour MPs that the government really does intend to backdate compensation for those who are worse off now that the lowest rate of income tax has been scrapped.
The problem: trying to work out who actually loses out from the axing of the 10p rate and then finding a mechanism for compensating them. Unfortunately, this is proving so complicated and so difficult that even the bright sparks at the Treasury really have no idea how they will do this.
So all Darling and his team have been able to do is point people to the letter he sent to the John McFall, the chairman of the Treasury select committee, yesterday, which promises to "offset the average losses" and stated that this would be "backdated to the start of this financial year".
The wording is necessarily woolly because as yet the Treasury has very little idea about how and when this can be done, but Darling has promised it will all be resolved in time for the pre-budget report in the late autumn.
Those aged 60-64 may get their money a little quicker because the Treasury has worked out that within that group an individual's financial circumstances are usually quite static. Plus there is already a mechanism set up - the winter-fuel allowance - for sending them one-off payments. Making an additional payment to this group would not require fresh legislation and, I'm told, they would not necessarily have to wait until Christmas for the cheque.
For other low-income groups, however, the situation is more problematic. Tinkering with tax credits across the board could end up costing the Treasury billions unless they can find a way of targeting them specifically at those who have lost out. There is no simple way of doing this, which is why Darling said they were looking a "range of different measures".
Even then the Treasury admits it will be impossible to ensure everyone receives the exact amount they lost - the promise was to "offset average losses" remember? So, as always, there will be winners and losers. Either way it is a terrible mess.
