The Briefcase 12: Times When Accounting Made the World Better

Every year, like clockwork, the UK Budget approaches, and the media goes into a total frenzy.

For the last few weeks, we’ve seen newspapers trade leaks, "sources close to the Chancellor" make vague promises, and entire opinion pieces based on complete guesses. By the time the actual Budget is delivered, most people have already got a very strong opinion on it. In fact, the other day, the leader of the opposition appeared to suggest the Budget had already happened. With this fever pitch, who can blame her?

But the actual Budget still matters. A strong Budget can win over voters and markets. A weak one? Well, lettuce just say the shortest-serving Prime Minister in history learned that the hard way.

All this chaos does beg the question – why have one big, dramatic reveal instead of introducing policy gradually over the year? It seems an unnecessary headache for the party in power. Is this a British thing, or do other countries also just love a bit of drama, too?

Let’s dig in.

A short history of Budget

Budgets have been around for centuries, but not always in the form we know today. When it started, there actually wasn’t a televised ritual featuring a red box, four days of parliamentary debate, and a nation dying to hear about something else, please, something else.

The first recognisable Budget emerged in the 1720s, when Sir Robert Walpole was drafted in to fix the financial black hole left by the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. MPs had been disgraced, and even members of the royal family were publicly humiliated – it was a different time indeed. Thankfully, the nation had Walpole – Britain’s first de facto Prime Minister – and the origins of the annual Budget.

The word itself comes from the French bougette, meaning little bag, used to describe the Chancellor’s leather document pouch. Ruefully, the English decided against an annual Baguette, which would be a lot more nourishing.

The modern Budget – in its current format as a single, annual fiscal event – only began in 2017. For decades, the UK held two major economic events each year: a Spring Budget and an Autumn Statement. That meant two opportunities for sudden tax changes, two sets of rumours, and double the annual outrage.

By 2016, the IMF, CBI, IFS, accountants, and most people with a working level of cognition were all begging the government to calm down.

So in the Autumn Statement of 2016, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the last Spring Budget, after which, there would instead be a Spring Statement. For most of us, a Spring Statement is "ooo, isn’t a bit warmer?” The Government’s Spring Statement tends to be a bit longer than this.

Weird traditions

For a supposedly serious fiscal event, the Budget is home to some very strange traditions – the kind only the rarefied upper classes could invent.

The red box

First used by William Gladstone in 1860, the original wooden despatch box survived more than a century of speeches before finally retiring to a museum. Though George Osborne, the big poser, briefly brought it back.

Chancellors are photographed with it outside 11 Downing Street, raising it like a piece of roadkill. What’s inside? Some speculate it contains a written account of the Chancellor’s dream from the night before.

Drinking at the despatch box

A unique parliamentary rule allows the Chancellor to drink alcohol during the Budget speech. Previous selections include:

• Disraeli: brandy and water.
• Gladstone: sherry with beaten egg.
• Geoffrey Howe: G&T.
• Ken Clarke: whisky.

A rule created in the 1800s continues to this day, though PR-conscious modern Chancellors have learned to make their sips of the hipflask more clandestine.

William Gladstone's red box Image: The National Archives UK

The Chancellor who forgot the Budget

In 1868, George Ward Hunt arrived at the Commons without the Budget. He had simply… left it at home. However, unlike your recurring nightmare about your accountancy exams, he was fully clothed.

The Speaker steps aside

Uniquely, the Speaker of the House does not chair the Budget debate. Instead, the Deputy Speaker (Chairman of Ways and Means) presides. This comes from before the Budget even existed, when the Speaker was viewed as too close to the King to be trusted with fiscal honesty. Nowadays, the speaker is only close to the King when he’s listening to Classic FM.

What’s happening elsewhere?

Most developed countries hold formal budget announcements – but very few turn them into the biggest event of the year. Here’s how others stack up:

• United States: The President submits a budget. Congress responds with "lol no” and drafts its own. The process is long and prone to shutdowns.
• Germany: Budgets are debated thoroughly but lack theatrical flair. The Germans are in it for the love of the game.
• Sweden: Extremely efficient. Budget documents are released immediately online – no red boxes, no rah-rah-rah, no sherry-and-egg cocktails.
• Ireland: Holds its annual Budget Day in October. The Minister for Finance delivers it to the Dáil, followed by intense media coverage and debate. While the red box is absent, the Irish media act very like the British do, with speculation abound.
• New Zealand: Budget Day is in May, and while it’s a big deal, it’s notably more transparent. NZ publishes extensive background papers, including a "Wellbeing Budget” to track societal outcomes.

So yes, budgets are global, but the UK’s blend of tradition, secrecy, and fiscal theatre remains unique, and that’s all we’ll say on the matter.

Big Budgets

Over the years, Budgets have done more than adjust fuel duty. Some genuinely changed the course of the country (for better or worse).

The game-changers

• 1945 Budget: This one set the foundations for the NHS and the modern welfare state.
• 1997 Budget: Quietly handed operational independence to the Bank of England – possibly the most impactful financial reform in a generation.
• 2010 Emergency Budget: Kicked off a decade of austerity, one that we’re still living in today.

The explosions

• 1909-1910 Lloyd George’s "People’s Budget”: Proposed heavy taxes on the rich to "wage war against poverty.” Sparked 72 days of debate, a constitutional crisis, and a general election. He also lost his voice mid-speech. Awkward!!
• 1972 "Dash for Growth” Budget: Wild spending and tax cuts, which led quickly to inflation, recession, and disaster.
• 2022 "Mini Budget” (Kwarteng/Truss): You might remember the market chaos, pension panic, and subsequent political implosion?

🧠 Final thoughts

So why does the UK do it this way? With the red box, the booze, the leaks, the wild speculation, the historic speeches, and the occasional complete political implosion? Some may say it’s because the public demand it, some may say it’s more a reflection on the people in charge – either way, it’s here to stay.

What’s definitely true is that some weird posh guys in a big green room all thought it was class 300 years ago, so in true British fashion, we’re going to keep doing it forever. Because, in this country, for better or worse, tradition will always beat efficiency.

Featured Image: Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers the Autumn Budget 2024. Image: Kirsty O'Connor / HM Treasury