Home In what he called a ‘fiscally neutral’ Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, confronted a reduced forecast of gross domestic product for 2013 from 1.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent and a further delay until 2017-18 in reducing the burden of public sector debt, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Mr Deputy Speaker, this is a Budget for people who aspire to work hard and get on. It’s a Budget for people who realise there are no easy answers to problems built up over many years. Just the painstaking work of putting right what went so badly wrong. And together with the British people we
Peter Lilley MP is the Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, and has been an MP since 1983. He was a Cabinet minister in both the Thatcher and Major governments, and today talks to us about Waugh, Tolstoy, and his quest for timeless literature. 1) Which book is on your bedside table at the moment?
‘Wow! Look at the tax on that — it must be delicious.’
Tarzan of the apps
‘You heard of the “Tiger Who Came to Tea”? That was me, too.’
‘I feel terrible. I drank too much last night.’
‘That? That’s the smoking area.’
‘Around here somewhere they have an English quarter.’
‘It looked different in the brochure.’
‘Here comes the world’s largest super-jumbo airbus...’
‘Don’t the stars make you feel small.’
‘Maybe Madam would like to try something that matches her personality?’
‘And the winner is… Nigel Farage.’
