Gordon Brown makes the guardians of two sets of received wisdom pretty uncomfortable. On the one hand what you might call the Livingstone tendency objects vigorously to his dour insistence on prudence and orthodox finance. On the other, the newest Labour fringe frets that he wants to tax them more in order to spend more on poor people, in a very old Labour way.
These contradictory concerns have given rise to the idea that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been spending by stealth, that he might claim to have earmarked an extra £40 billion for health and education, but somehow it does not show up in the books. Which, then, is the true Gordon Brown – the new or the old? And which shall we see on Budget day next week?
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