Does the ‘anti-growth coalition’ run the Treasury?

‘Permanent revolution’ is the on dit in Whitehall these days – and what it means is that the Truss administration U-turns so often the whole machinery of government is constantly spinning round on its axis.

The latest volte-face is the decision to appoint James Bowler, a 20-year establishment veteran, as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. The Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, declared himself ‘delighted to welcome James back to the Treasury,’ which is causing a few chuckles in SW1.

It’s well-known that Kwarteng’s plan was to shake up the Treasury. Bowler represents precisely the sort of orthodox officialdom he has for years wanted to remove.

But Kwarteng had to swallow his pride and roll back – as he did on scrapping the 45p tax rate.

‘Kwasi has been totally cucked,’ says one mandarin. ‘What’s happened to growth, growth, growth? It’s all orthodoxy, orthodoxy, orthodoxy, suddenly.’

The role was in fact down to go to Antonia Romeo – outsider to the Treasury, but someone seen as a business-friendly appointment given her time running the Trade department. Kwarteng and Truss had been eager to bring Romeo in to signal that ‘growth’, deregulation and business productivity were in, and ‘fiscal orthodoxy and abacus economics’ were out.

Romeo had been lined up at the head of a ‘girl power trio’ – with Cat Little and Beth Russell as the Second Permanent Secretaries. The news (which had been strongly briefed out already) was meant to be announced today.

Then the worm U-turned again. Women in charge? At the Treasury? Team Truss, facing another wave of bad financial news, lost its nerve and a pale male has been put back in instead to steady establishment nerves. The bank always wins, apparently.

In her conference speech last week, Liz Truss vowed to battle the ‘anti-growth coalition.’ The joke in Westminster today is apparently that the anti-growth coalition actually runs the Treasury and therefore the country. ‘If these people don’t even have the bottle to pursue their own growth agenda,’ says Steerpike’s source. ‘What on earth are they doing?’ It’s a fair question. The permanent revolution continues – going nowhere.