As Jeremy Hunt delivered one of the most boring Budgets in living memory, it became clear that Rishi Sunak is on course to finally keep one promise to voters.
The prime minister said in January that his “working assumption” was that the general election would be in the second half of the year.
After the chancellor’s steadfast refusal to announce much in the way of voter-friendly giveaways, it seems clear that the chances of a May election - as demanded by Labour - are receding.
Even Tory MPs were decidedly non-plussed by what Hunt had to offer.
One told HuffPost UK from inside the Commons chamber: “This is the worst delivery of a Budget I can remember. He’s lost the room.”
If Hunt couldn’t even enthuse his own backbenchers, how could he possibly hope to win over undecided voters?
The chancellor’s headline announcement - a 2p cut in national insurance - is unlikely to change the political weather either, given that when he pulled the same trick last November it had zero impact on the Tories’ miserable poll ratings.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Sunak promised a cut in the basic rate of income tax this parliament when he was still chancellor in 2022. Does he really want to go to the polls without at least dangling that prospect in front of the electorate?
It seems far more likely that we’ll see another fiscal event between now and November, thereby allowing Hunt to finally deliver some pre-election goodies.
Nevertheless, one Labour shadow cabinet member insisted as May election “is still on”.
“It’s only going to get worse for them from now on,” he told HuffPost UK.
If they are to be proven right, Sunak and Hunt are going to have to quickly come up with some fresh reasons for people to vote Tory. Because the Budget definitely didn’t contain any.