Andrew Neil on the budget…

“This was the Budget of a mainstream social democratic government that believes in a big, activist state and that government should temper the workings of the market in every sector and at every opportunity.

To pay for it all, the tax burden will rise to 37.3% of GDP next year, the highest since World War II. This may or may not be the right way to run an economy in the 2020s but it’s not what Tories have been used to, at least not until recently.”

Andrew Neil makes a perceptive point about the international media…

“The global currency and debt markets have had a ‘down’ on Britain for some time. It’s not clear why. Britain’s debt-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest in the G7 club of big economies. Our budget deficit is on a par with many other major economies. Economic growth is anaemic — as it is everywhere, from the Eurozone to America to China.

I suspect it’s a Brexit hangover. The publications global market players read most closely include the New York Times, the Economist, the Financial Times and leading European papers such as Le Monde and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. All — and others like them — have been relentlessly negative about Britain since the 2016 referendum.

This air of constant gloom has permeated global financial markets. Plenty of influential Remainers have been only too happy to encourage this negativity, if only to justify their anti-Brexit stance. But it does represent a serious constraint — a discipline even — on the Government’s ability to borrow more than it already plans.”

Rishi Sunak has agreed to do a sit-down Andrew Neil interview this Friday on his Channel 4 show at 19.30. Liz Truss’s team are yet to say whether she’ll also agree. Given she’s the Boris continuity candidate, there’s a past precedent she may not…

Who won? You decide…

Jonathan Ashworth outraged Corbynites last night, using an appearance on Andrew Neil’s Channel 4 show to finally embrace Guido’s 2019 leaked recording as a means of proving he never backed Jeremy Corbyn for PM. When Guido dropped the explosive election recording, in which Ashworth claimed Corbyn wouldn’t win and the Civil Service machine would move to safeguard national security if he did, Jon was forced in real-time to concoct a story that it was just “joshing” with a mate, and that of course he didn’t believe it. No one bought it…

When Guido met him on the terrace a couple of months ago, Ashworth still seemed to be standing by his TV spin, adding that it was because of concerns over his mate’s mental health that he said those things. Last night, however, we finally saw a public u-turn, telling Andrew Neil:

“JA: He was never going to be Prime Minister… 

AN: You didn’t say that at the time!

JA: Well I did actually, that was the problem! I remember being in many newspapers having said that”

Aside from his own credibility problems, Sir Keir must find it difficult leading a charge against dishonesty in politics with Jonathan Ashworth still on his front bench…

UPDATE: Ashworth’s former mate who leaked his candid view of Corbyn gets in touch to say “The only thing he was concerned about was getting the hard-left to back him for leader!”

Andrew Neil on his entrepreneurial urges:

“Start-ups are fun! Well, usually fun…”