Cartoon Chancellor bears gifts

Satirical cartoonists used to have it easy on Budget day.

Just stick the Chancellor in a highwayman’s mask toting a pistol and a bag of swag and retire to the pub before the duty invariably slapped on beer and spirits came into force!

Dick Turpin was the goto character after successive chancellors over the years have hit the majority of the public in the pocket in some way or other.

This time round, however, the cartoonists may have to earn their corn.

Given the PM’s promised end to austerity and a determination to put a positive spin on Brexit negotiations, Philip Hammond was under pressure to produce that rarest of all public gifts ... a good news Budget.

Would we have a jolly Hammond bearing presents in a Santa suit or, as a throwback to the Eighties, our Chancellor wielding wads of fivers like Harry Enfield’s Loadsamoney character?

For once, Theresa May was out of the firing line and Philip Hammond was getting his moment in the sun. He shone!

Hammond was the Loadsamoney Santa! A reverse Kleptomaniac, giving everything away.

He promised cash for the NHS, social care, mental health and the armed forces.

And it didn’t stop there. Schools will be getting £400m, he’s throwing cash at the environment and funding more pothole repairs!

The cartoonists could throw Robin Hood into the mix as his UK Digital Services Tax targeted the rich internet companies.

Hammond was Santa, Loadsamoney and Robin Hood all rolled into one.

The giveaway Budget has been a cartoonists’ dream ... here’s hoping the austerity-weary public benefit too.