To be fair he has not had the best of luck.His predesseor enjoyed 10 years of largely uninterupted growth,all be it on the back of cheap credit and falling global prices.He had been in the job weeks when Northern rock hit the headlines,something that he had little responsibilty or control over.
More importantly the shadow of a certain G Brown looms large over his shoulder,to the extent that Gordon will often appear at his press conference.
During the interview,he maintains whilst this will be a difficult year we are not heading for recession,
House prices "will flatten" and the coping classes will have to tighten their belts. "People need to be sure that if they take out a loan they can afford to repay it when times are not so good."
He has the utilty companies within his sites and is worried about the gap between super rich and the rest of us.
As for his latest problems on the taxing of non doms,he is unrepentant.
"There are lots of occasions when you announce something then you can refine it, I'd rather get the policy right
as he is about his reaction to Northern rock,
"Last autumn there was no way we could have done anything with Northern Rock, the markets were frozen, you would have been giving it away," he says. "Nationalisation is still a real option. I've always said that I would prefer to get a private sector solution but if that isn't possible… it might be more appropriate to take the bank into public ownership for a short period."
So we look forward to his first budget in a little over a month's time
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