The Chancellor is probably unique in his ability to talk in his sleep at the Dispatch Box, and probably to turn even a Monumental Crisis into a bore, but even he should be sufficiently awake to recognise that he is now trapped in a vicious circle of spending cuts, most of which are utterly false economies.

Is there not genuinely a Monumental Crisis that cannot he shoved under the carpet any longer?

Foot and mouth has been a Monumental Crisis for my constituents.