Nothing drives the alienation of the public from the political process more than when the Westminster lobby and the national media conspires to push an agenda that the public does not like, want or accept. Such an agenda was advertised nationally after this week’s budget as George Osborne’s acolytes emerged from their subterranean pain-dungeons to hail their king. George for prime pinister? His fans in the bubble think so. Fortunately, nobody else in the country does.
Roller coaster pollster
I have often longed for an analysis of Tory poll numbers alongside prolonged media exposure for Osborne. My theory? The more the public sees George, the less they like him and the Tories as a whole. If only this theory could be tested somehow… I would like to get 80,000 people into a stadium, put George in front of them and see how they react. Wait a minute…
Now that is magic
George of course, is allegedly a master tactician. Again, I have always doubted this. Partisan to the point of embitterment, yes: this week’s budget performance proved that with a series of personal jibes aimed at Ed Miliband and – yet again – his family, which only served to make Osborne look like the spiteful type the broader public takes him for. This led the Guardian to suggest that Osborne had committed £80m to flesh out a comedy routine in his budget address. Desperate stuff, but the real largesse with public funds might be the government placing adverts in the ad breaks during this week’s ITV Champions League coverage. It does not get more prime time than that, or more expensive. Let’s see if my parliamentary questions on the use of public funds for government advertising are answered.
Not a lot
There was precious little in the budget as it turns out. It was a hook for spin. A consultation here, an ambition there – this is what happens when a government runs out of steam.
Frail Caesar 
Much has been made of George’s image change in recent years, particularly the ‘Caesar’ haircut, but a more compelling parallel is surely Caesar Romero, the character actor who immortalised the Joker in the 1960’s Batman TV series – and, of course, Dave is similarly his erstwhile top-hatted boss, the Penguin.
The Romans, of course, were terrified of the north and so George’s ‘northern powerhouse’ spin reflected a similar fear once the details, such as they were, were announced. The budget held nothing for the north – expect Labour’s forthcoming manifesto to deliver much as we go about undertaking the nation building in England called for by me, amongst others, in these very pages.
The worst is yet to come
This is the takeaway message from what will hopefully be George’s final budget, with the Office for Budget Responsibility warning that the worst of the spending cuts to public services have yet to happen. All tactics and no strategy: whatever happens over the coming weeks, this budget was not an election winner.
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Jamie Reed is member of parliament for Copeland. He writes The Last Word column on Progress and tweets @jreedmp
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Photos and video: BBC News, Channel 4 News