The back-pedalling begins in earnest

How do you explain what a “zero per cent rise” is? Michael Ellam, Brown’s outgoing press secretary, had this task earlier today and I went along to the lobby to hear him. His answer hints at what I suspect will be an almighty U-turn from the government on cuts. Brown was “interrupted” he said – he meant to say 0.7% but was cut off after zero. As if. When it was pointed out to him that Brown said “zero percent rise in 2013/14,” and wasn’t interrupted at all, Ellam basically admitted that Brown misspoke and apparently corrected himself in his next sentence by saying he was referring to 0.7% growth in current (as opposed to capital) spending. But what Ellam said next really caught my attention.

Spending totals, Ellam said, have only been set out until 2010/11. Untrue, I told him, Brown stood up in the Commons two weeks ago and read