2 min read23 October
As Chancellor John Healey gears up for the biggest day of his political career next Wednesday, The Rundown speaks this week to one of the few people who knows what it’s like to prepare to deliver a Budget: Jeremy Hunt.
Hunt, who led the Treasury during the Rishi Sunak Conservative government, reflected on the final few days before standing up in the House of Commons to deliver a Budget.
The Conservative MP described that period as the “calm before the storm”, explaining that, by this point in the Budget process, “all the big decisions have been made” and what remains is working out how to land them with the media and the public.
“For me, that Sunday before a Budget was pretty sacrosanct, because that’s when I would sit in my chancellor’s study in No 11, which is a beautiful small room, and just in total quietness, crunch through my speech and work out exactly what I wanted to say” he told the podcast.
Asked what advice he would give to Healey as he prepares to deliver his first Budget, Hunt said “don’t underestimate your own power and your ability to do radical and bold measures”, stressing that the Treasury is “the most powerful ministry in Whitehall”.
“When I was health secretary, I would’ve died to be able to stand up for one moment in the year and set out my stall on the NHS and how I was going to make it great.
“You don’t have that; it’s only the Chancellor. So what I would really say is, don’t waste the moment,” said Hunt.
The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot
- Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Rundown, or search for ‘PoliticsHome’ wherever you get your podcasts.
