Today, Ali Lyon, chews over the government’s plans for a windfall tax on banks. Sign up to the City AM News Updates newsletter here.It was, in the immortal, viral words of former Manchester United footballer Gary Neville, “the banker”.
It was “the no-brainer – the one that couldn’t fail, the one that’s never failed”.The England right-back was talking about his former club’s 2016 decision to appoint Jose Mourinho as head coach.
The Portuguese firebrand would, top brass had hoped, put right a years-long spell of underperformance and vanquish the ghost of their totemic manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, once and for all.
In the end, though, it wasn’t to be, and after just two and a half years in charge – with no league titles to show for it – Mourinho was given his marching orders.But Neville’s remarks could – with a bit of imagination – just as easily apply to the frenzied speculation in the run-up to this month’s Budget.Unlike his kite-flying, pitch-rolling predecessor, John Healey has remained notably tight-lipped on the composition of his maiden fiscal event.
What little information industrious reporters have teased out of the Treasury has been patchwork-like and bit-part, leaving captains of industry, investors and even lobbyists firmly in the dark.