The red box being hauled out often means one thing… tax hikes (Picture: Getty)
To stand in front of No.11 with red box held high and cameras flashing is a rite of passage for British chancellors heading to the House of Commons to deliver their annual Budget statement.
Later today, Rachel Reeves will join their ranks before stepping up to the despatch box to tell us all how much tax we’ll have to cough up over the next 12 months and what’s happening to the price of beer.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares for the Autumn Budget 2024 in her office in No 11 Downing Street(Pictures: Kirsty O’Connor / Treasury)
Where did the box come from?
The very first red box was made for William Gladstone in 1860 when he was chancellor of the exchequer. Made of wood, covered in red leather and lined with black silk, it’s the box that was intended to carry the Budget statement from No.11 Downing Street to the House of Commons.
What’s happened to it since?
It’s certainly been used a lot, but not always. James Callaghan was the first to dispense with the tradition, carrying what was dubbed a ‘vulgar brown valise’ in 1965. In 1997, Gordon Brown commissioned a new one to replace the now quite tatty original.
Gladstone was chancellor under three prime ministers, before he became PM himself (Picture: Alamy)
What happened to the original red box?
The original is now in the Cabinet War Rooms. It had its final outing in 2010, when George Osborne – desperate to be photographed with this symbolic piece of history – received special dispensation from the National Archive for a single outing. It was decidedly battered – bits of leather had broken off, with Treasury sources noting ‘you can see it has been repaired with balsa wood’.
The thoroughly overworked original was resigned from public service the year after.
George Osborne was keen to hold up the ancient battered red box in 2010(Picture: Getty)
But he also looked chuffed to brandish a newer one two years later (Picture: Getty)
Any mortifying moments over the years?
George Ward Hunt arrived at the Commons in 1869 and opened the box to realise he had left the speech back at base. We don’t know if there’s a connection, but he lasted just six months in the job. Which is longer than Kwasi Kwarteng of course – who despite his momentous fiscal statement in 2022, never actually got the chance to give a Budget – so no red box for him.
His ‘kamiKwazi’ ultra-Conservative tax-cutting mini-budget – the one that crashed the pound, crashed the bond market and almost crashed the UK insurance sector – was delivered from Downing Street to the Commons in a blue folder.
George Ward Hunt forgot his speech during his one and only Budget (Picture: Alamy)
Kwasi Kwarteng became the second shortest-serving chancellor, and Liz Truss the shortest-serving PM, after their disastrous mini-budget (Picture: Reuters)
Anything else that’s stowed among the black silk?
Norman Lamont is said to have put a bottle …read more
Source:: Metro