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Throwaway Phil embraces austerity-lite to save his skin | John Crace

The chancellor may have gambled with the UK’s cash, but at least his job is safe – for now

Shortly before she was due to address the Nordic Council in Oslo, Theresa May was asked if she was planning on calling a snap general election. “No,” she replied sternly. “A general election would not be in the national interest.” As this was precisely the same answer she had given seven times before calling last year’s snap general election, many MPs must have feared the worst.

Though one definition of insanity is repeating the same mistake and expecting a different result, it was still a fair question. Not least because no one can any longer count on the prime minister being sound of mind. How else to explain a budget in which the chancellor appears to have undergone a total personality change?

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2AA46IP

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