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 stop. The free bar has closed. It is reminiscent of the 1970s when a particularly high-spending Labour Government suddenly found it was running out of cash. Spending came to an abrupt halt, hospitals were closed. As Tony Crosland, one of the best-known Cabinet ministers of the time, remarked: "The party's over."
The situation now is less dramatic but essentially the same. The paper hats and tinsel are being packed away and the host wants to go to bed. Extra money for new policy ideas is not readily forthcoming. This is not because Gordon Brown planned it this way. He has no choice. He initiated the big spend because he had to and now he is ending it, similarly, because he is boxed in. In the late 1990s, an election was on the horizon and NHS waiting lists were getting even longer than before. From being a man who kept boasting about his "prudence", Brown suddenly become one who couldn't brag enough about how much cash he was putting into health and education.
He is obliged to go back to prudence now
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| We are coming to the end of yet another attempt by Labour to make Britain a better place by spending the public’s money |
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because the reserves he built up in his first few years as Chancellor have run out - and so have the years of good economic growth.
He has been faced with three choices: raise taxes even more, borrow yet more or hold back spending. The first two would spoil his big (though exaggerated) reputation for financial management, so he has opted for the spending slowdown.
He will undoubtedly spin this as "locking in" the "gains" that have been made. But it will be nothing of the sort. It will mark the end of another attempt by a Labour government to make Britain a better place through tax-and-spend. The improvement in the NHS has been modest, despite the truckloads of extra billions.
"The party's over," said Crosland. It is tempting to say this time, "It wasn't much of a party in the first place." 
James Bartholomew is the author of The Welfare State We're In (Politico's, £18.99)
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