The big question hanging over this Budget was would it be Gordon Brown's last? So, naturally, one was watching for something of a valedictory from the chancellor - a sign that he is reconciled to Tony Blair's apparent desire to bounce him out of the Treasury and into the Foreign Office.

Would Mr Brown break into a rendition of Terry Jacks' Seasons in the Sun, specially adapted for the circumstances? "Goodbye Tony, my trusted friend, you lied to me until the very end, when you took what was rightly mine; told me things would work out fine; said that I'd be next in line."