Liam Byrne has his watch set 10 minutes fast, ensuring that he arrives one minute early for every meeting.
The mathematical logic of that defeats me; add 10 to subtract 1?
The arithmetic of the public finances however has always been so fiendishly complicated that they say only two people ever truly understand it, & one of them is dead.
Mr Byrne, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is our current standard bearer. “I’m very efficient,” he says.
“Everybody knows a conversation with me is not going to be a lot of fun … Some of my older & wiser colleagues have decided they’re going to settle fast & get it done.”
I expect they have learnt over the years how to cut their losses.
