Most budgets have to satisfy different audiences and Chancellors have to think carefully about what they need to do to ensure both are satisfied.

They are the political equivalent of a tricky European football away tie in which the visiting team sees a goalless draw as a victory.

For Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the goal was to come away from the fixture with an even chance of grinding through the return leg - some time in October.

You have to say that the rather volatile backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, in which more or less everything is rising - apart from the government’s poll ratings - was not the most sympathetic or benevolent so he was up against it from the start.

So let’s be fair and acknowledge that energy prices, rising food prices, the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the as yet unresolved ‘partygate’ saga meant this was a budget being set against an atypical fiscal climate.

And it wasn't even supposed to be a budget at all but a Spring Statement to update the public on the previous budget.

Given that The Chancellor was unable to claim that there were signs of green shoots pointing to a recovery in the economy, he did what any politician does when faced with inconvenient facts and largely ignored them.

This was a budget framed by the cost of living crisis rather than one set against a buoyant economy and that meant there was very little cash to splash and insufficient funds in the Treasury’s piggybank to do what a previous Prime Minister described as fixing the roof while the sun shone.

Still there was a surprising amount of loose change buried in the Downing Street sofa, although some of it will have to stay there until 2024, which will fund the cut in income tax just before an election.

It wasn’t a performance that will mean he is dropped from the first eleven even if looks like delivering less than promised.

Whether the chief Executive of P&O Ferries will stay in the job remains to be seen but on the back of a bruising encounter with MPs, The odds have definitely shortened.

Normally witnesses summonsed by MPs to answer questions on national controversies will Invest in some PR training to role play and rehearse questions they are likely to face.

The car crash endured by Peter Hebblethwaite suggested he had neither the time nor the money to spend.

What little credibility he had was sunk by the extraordinary explanation for why the company had deliberately not complied with employment law that requires a period of consultation before redundancies can be confirmed.

It was he explained a necessary requirement to bypass the law in order for the company to avoid collapsing.

You could hear the sharp intake of breath his admission caused. Oh and for good measure, he said he would do the same again.

And from that point on, it was all downhill - in the fashion of a slalom skier who had lost control on the slopes. Not since someone had thrown a cake in the face of Rupert Murdoch had a cross party Select Committee been such riveting viewing.