Former Treasury minister Chloe Smith, hung out to dry by Osborne in that infamous Newsnight interview and then dumped by the Chancellor, gets her revenge. On Osborne and the Budget she says:

“I don’t think [PIP] was the right measure to include in the budget, that is what I will be saying in my speech tomorrow. Ultimately the Chancellor is responsible for the budget. The Treasury is responsible for trying to collect together all the savings on expenditure. I think it is sensible we are debating the balance of the savings and expenditure. I don’t think this is a good proposal and I will be speaking out against it.”

On IDS:

“I think he is an honourable man who has therefore had to make a decision about what was in his area of responsibility. As elected politicians in a democracy we all have to be confident that we have to justify what we are proposing to do with taxpayer’s money.”

She calls on the government to target protected universal benefits instead:

“I will be saying in the Commons instead we should be looking at universal benefits, in particular that we give well-off pensioners – a bus pass, a free TV licence and help with winter fuel – when they don’t need it. I think that is where we should look instead of this proposal on PIP.”

If Cameron was running for a third term Osborne would be out of a job by now…