Throwaway Phil embraces austerity lite to save his skin

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.“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.How else to explain a budget in which the chancellor appears to have undergone a total personality change?