Was Danny Alexander writing press releases or cutting down trees? All that work in Cairngorms National Park must have done some good for Beaker as he seems to be able to handle an axe quite well. He just told the Commons that the government could not “spend money it simply did not have.”

He announced twelve prospective government projects that Labour approved will be scrapped saving two billion pounds and suspended other projects worth another eight and half billion. The controversal £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters has gone.

He’s no David Laws, but such action should go some way in reassuring those who doubt Beaker’s steel.