The Budget negotiations are entering their final phase — and it is telling that, with two weeks to go, the main disagreements are not between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, but within the Tory party. As relationships shift at the top of the coalition, the rose garden romance between David Cameron and Nick Clegg has cooled into a more businesslike partnership. Now differences of instinct and emphasis are emerging between the Prime Minister and his best friend and closest political ally, the Chancellor.
There has been no return to the rows and tantrums of the new Labour years, of course. George Osborne would never scream at Mr Cameron “You’ve stolen my f***ng Budget”, as Gordon Brown once did at Tony Blair at a similar