She not only failed to find the words to win round her Tory opponents: she did not even seem to realise this was necessary.
Just over one fifth preferred no increase in the military budget and more tax cuts. Grant Shapps’ demands for more cash have cut through with members – but show little sign of having persuaded the Treasury.
Not only would passing a tax cut disproportionately helpful to London and the South-East be an admission of defeat in the Red Wall, but it would provide Labour with an easy attack line in the autumn.
Universities need overseas students to cross-subsidise the domestic ones. The best way to solve this problem would be properly to fund domestic higher education funding.
There is also a strong case for believing that it is risky if you have almost half of adults not paying income tax – the position we were approaching by the end of the Coalition.
This will not be the last scandal to come to light and, given the impact of ITV’s drama, other scandals may get similar television treatment. The contaminated blood story would make searing viewing.
We are fed up with being controlled by its incorrect forecasts, and subject to wild policy swings by the Bank of England which did much to give us inflation in the first place.
Warm words won’t cut it: victims need action. Their lives will always be defined by their treatment. They need life-changing compensation, and the quashing of unjust convictions.
It’s tough at the top: there are white hairs on the PM’s temples which were not there when he took over in October last year.
Without understanding what parts of the status quo are propped up by the mass import of people, and how, and why, any move to cut headline numbers is going to run aground on the consequences of so doing.
The Chancellor, who was watched by his wife and children, indicated that he will take no risks.
We are a services superpower second only to the US. That doesn’t just mean banking, but also the creative industries, legal services, architecture and consultant engineering.
There is also a moral point: if someone works, they should be the main beneficiary of their labour, rather than being forced to give most of their extra earnings to the Government.
To those who say that election year budgets should offer short-term giveaways, I say this: history tells us that the British public is much too smart and much too sceptical to be bribed.