How Labor promises left Rachel Reeves with massive budget headaches

On Saturday, Keir Starmer and his government had already been in power for 100 difficult days. Far-right riots, arguments between top officials in Number 10, furor over free gifts in a government that claims to be at the service of the nation. Starmer now refers to them as "choppy days", and the last two as "sidewinds" that he believes will not push him off course.

For Cabinet ministers in the major spending departments, there has been renewed frustration since they celebrated winning a landslide on July 4. We are waiting for the budget. New governments - Labor in 1997 and ...