Brown's number 10

摘要

This year's budget was Gordon brown's 10th - the longest uninterrupted run of Budgets by one person since Nicholas Vansittart in 1822. Early on in the life of the government, Gordon used to joke that there were only two types of finance minister -those who fail and those who get out just in time. After nine years, that joke has passed its sell-by-date! The ritual of Budget day must be getting familiar for the chancellor, but for me this was a first After years of sitting in the civil servants' cramped box by the Speaker's chair, and then watching from the public gallery, this was my first chance to sit on the green benches for a Budget speech.