Darling has money troubles

Yes, yes, I know I commented on rumours of a Brown-Darling split yesterday, but this passage from the FT deserves pulling out, especially given Brown’s emphasis on forging a global “grand bargain” at the G20 summit:

“The chancellor would love to be able to agree to a tax cut equivalent to 2 per cent of national income in 2010 as demanded by Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary.

It would also please Gordon Brown … who has championed a global fiscal boost. But Mr Darling knows he cannot afford it. ‘There’s no money,’ says one ally.” Perhaps the most striking thing about the split reports, now, is their frequency – the papers have carried allusions to tension between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister for almost every day of the past two weeks. You’ve got to wonder, in moments of daydream, whether it will all crescendo to one big, calamitous showdown.