Gordon Brown, the UK’s chancellor, will deliver his last Budget this week. He will then – almost certainly – go on, within months, to become leader of the ruling Labour party and prime ­minister.

Little can now stop the first event being followed by the second. There will be much talk in the UK media of how the Budget will be the last big test for Mr Brown before Tony Blair quits. But, in truth, this Budget is not a hurdle for the chancellor. It is more his “last hurrah” in the job.