Today Jeremy Hunt well and truly buried the Johnsonian era of Boosterism
Voters now know are going to be exposed to chillier fiscal winds than they were told about in Kwasi Kwarteng’s fairy tale mini-budget less than a month ago.
For too long a succession of Chancellors have delivered “and they all lived happily ever after” Budgets, fiscal statements and other assorted messages.
Hunt rightly recognises it is time for honesty - the bond markets had given him no choice.
The public understands that the country is in a major bind. A hat-trick of massive economic shocks - the global financial crisis, the pandemic and the energy price surge triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine - have left the public finances in tatters.
Inflation is far from under control and may hit double digits this week. Andrew Bailey has made it clear that interest rates will have to go painfully high to rein it in.
Meanwhile Brexit makes it harder for exporters to reap the benefit of the weaker pound. None of this smacks of quick fixes. We are in for a multi-year slog that will be tough for everyone, households and businesses alike.
Better to get that news out there today and in the coming months rather than constantly leading on the electorate like the Child Catcher in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ with lollipop promises of brighter things ahead driven by the timing of the electoral cycle.
No one wants to talk the economy down, but if the country’s leaders do not have the courage to level with voters, the reckoning will just be dragged out ever longer with a far nastier hard landing at the end of it.
