Hunt became chancellor after a Tory tax calamity. History suggests he’s doomed

Like Roy Jenkins and Kenneth Clarke before him, he can do little but tackle a crisis bequeathed to him by Conservative folly

Jeremy Hunt has set a course for the Conservatives that will surely send the party to defeat at the nextelection. The chancellor, emulating two of his predecessors, can do little and achieve even less over the next 18 months other than his twin objectives - to oversee a fall in inflation and restore trust in the UK's public finances.

The sense of declinism" that he said on Friday was undermining Britain's recovery will become more prevalent, not less, under his stewardship, playing into Labour's hands. Words rather than action will be the order of the day for him, because bringing down the annual budget deficit will deny him the funds needed to boost public spending. The right wing of his party will also prevent him from intervening to solve problems that should, in their view, be left to the market.