The Chancellor Who Resigned Over a Remark in a Corridor
In nineteen forty-seven, on his way to deliver the Budget, Britain's Chancellor Hugh Dalton gave a journalist a few words about tax changes, and they appeared in print before he had finished speaking. He resigned the next day. This episode explains why budget secrecy became sacred, what markets can do with even minutes of advance knowledge, and how the rituals of the red box grew up around that fear.
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Hugh Dalton resigned in nineteen forty-seven after London papers printed his budget before he finished speaking.
A parliamentary inquiry found no insider trading resulted from Dalton's corridor leak to a reporter.
Budget secrecy prevents forestalling, where buyers exploit advance tax knowledge before laws take immediate effect.
A leaked forecast in twenty twenty-five moved thirty-year government bond yields by seven basis points.
Premature reports of a twenty twenty-six bank surcharge caused major bank shares to jump rapidly.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Corridor Encounter2 min
- 03The Resignation and the Inquiry2 min
- 04The Architecture of Secrecy and Forestalling2 min
- 05When Minutes Mean Millions in Modern Markets3 min
- 06Outro1 min
- Hugh Dalton
- Budget leak uncanny echo of famous incident from 66 years ago
- My grandfather
- Hugh Dalton resigns as chancellor after budget leak - Politics.co.uk
- Foreign News: Bittern's Fall
- The Right Honourable Lord Hugh Dalton
- HUGH DALTON 1887 – 1962
- Hope star nov 14 1947 p 7
- Budget leaks and briefings are out of hand
- Uk fca stands ready to take action over potential budget leak
- John Healey faces questions over budget leak that moved bank share prices
- Budget talk: An end to secrecy? | Institute for Government
- Mr Hugh Dalton: speeches in 1947 (Hansard)
- Gilt market reaction to UK Budget remains subdued despite OBR leak
- youtube.com
- UK Budget OBR leak: How was the OBR forecast leaked? What was in the leaked report?
- FCA
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