约翰·希利在次日媒体巡访中表现出色，因为他的马丁·刘易斯式举措让人无从挑剔。也许这毕竟是一次政治天才之举。预算次日通常是事情开始出岔子的时刻。当精通门道的记者和经济学家有机会逐一审视财政大臣希望所有人都忽略的细节时，那些表明一切都建立在祈祷之上的预测、隐藏的未融资减税、超出预期的支出承诺，都会浮出水面。
John Healey aced the morning-after media round because his Martin Lewis measures left nothing to challenge him on Maybe it had been one of the greatest acts of political genius after all. The day after the budget is usually the moment when things start to fall apart. When clued-up journalists and economists have had a chance to go through all the fine points the chancellor would rather everyone had missed. The forecasts that suggest everything is predicated on a wing and a prayer. The hidden unfunded tax cuts. The greater-than-expected spending commitments.
但周四早上，安迪·伯纳姆和约翰·希利可以松一口气。一切都进展得尽可能顺利。事实证明，当你不做出任何重大减税或支出承诺时，就没什么可拆解的了。所有的只是一系列旨在帮助人们理财的小规模干预措施。可以称之为马丁·刘易斯预算。事实上，希利和刘易斯似乎现在每天都要花些时间待在一起。他们显然停不下来谈论对方。这正变得不健康地相互依赖。微小之物的神祇。
But on Thursday morning Andy Burnham and John Healey could afford themselves a sigh of relief. All had gone about as well as they could have hoped. It turns out that when you don’t make any massive tax or spending commitments, there isn’t a great deal to unravel. All there had been was a raft of small-scale interventions designed to help people with their personal finances. Call it the Martin Lewis budget. In fact, Healey and Lewis now seem unable to get through the day without spending some time with each other. They certainly can’t stop talking about one another. It’s becoming unhealthily co-dependent. The gods of small things.
