The Chancellor can’t do the biggest things she needs for growth because she can’t escape her own ideology, says Helen Thomas

Spin only gets you so far in the business world. Action has to back up rhetoric or the game will be found out. This is the main difference between business and politics: the former is about what works whereas the latter is about what sells. The most powerful leaders in each world adopt a little bit of both, whether it’s Trump’s tax cuts to Make America Great Again or Jamie Dimon’s ruthlessly successful acquisitions. The UK Chancellor is trying to move from the tearful reality of her fiscal constraints to the smile that welcomes capital into Britain. Unfortunately, tweaking regulations to meet a shopping list of demands from the City’s big lobbyists does not a successful salesperson make.

The ”Leeds Reforms” and her Mansion House speech provide a good spin but business is judging her on her actions, not words. The smoked salmon and scrambled eggs offensive in the run up to the General Election turned into thin gruel. At her very first Budget she delivered a wholly unanticipated........

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